The Nurse in Greek Life

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Title: The Nurse in Greek Life
Author: Gorman, Mary Rosaria
Language: English
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THE NURSE IN GREEK LIFE

_By_

SISTER MARY ROSARIA, M. A.

OF THE

SISTERS OF CHARITY, HALIFAX, N. S.

A DISSERTATION

_Submitted to the Catholic Sisters College of the Catholic University of
America in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor
of Philosophy_

BOSTON

JUNE, 1917

------------------------------------------------------------------------

PREFACE

The frequent mention of the nurse in connection with the child and the
family and the numerous descriptions of her in Greek art have suggested
the investigation of Greek classical literature and the inscriptions
with the purpose of ascertaining and presenting the position and
characteristics of the nurse as a contribution to the private life of
the Greeks. The subject here dealt with is viewed solely from the social
standpoint, though the writer recognizes its value from the literary and
psychological sides.

The scope of this study practically includes the whole range of Greek
literature from Homer to Plutarch. A correct notion of the part played
in Greek life by this character could not have been obtained from a
narrower field. Certain phases of the nurse’s life are discussed by
Becker in his “Charicles” (Excursus to Scene I), and references to
different aspects of the subject are found in Hermann’s “Lehrbuch” (3rd.
ed., pt. IV). Friedländer’s “Sittengeschichte Roms” (5th. ed., I, p.
468ff.) was of special value in throwing light on some of the μυθόι of
Chapter IV. Wherever the works of other modern authors dealing with
Greek domestic life have been used, due credit will be given them.

SISTER MARY ROSARIA.

Feast of St. Joseph,
March 19, 1917.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE
PREFACE 3

CHAPTER I. TERMS USED FOR NURSE.

τροφός, τίτθη, τιθήνη, μαῖα 7

CHAPTER II. SOCIAL STATUS OF THE NURSE.

From Homer to Herodotus—In Tragedy—In Athens—Foreign Nurses 9

CHAPTER III. THE NURSE AND THE FAMILY.

Duties to the Child—Bathing—Swaddling—First Nurture—Wet
nurses—Food—Child in the Nurse’s Arms—Carrying of Child—
Motion Profitable for Young Children—Moulding of Child’s
Body—Cradles—σκάφη ... λίκνον,—Rocking of the Cradle—
Amusements Furnished by the Nurse—Making of Toys—Balls—
Rattles—Dolls—Dandling Fruit—Theatres—General Care Over
Children—Keeping them Clean—Fondling Children—Pet Names—
Humoring Child—Method of Finding Out What Children Want—
Crying of Children—Amulets—Time Spent in Nursery.

The Nurse and the Grown Daughter—Nausicaa’s Nurse—Tragic
Nurse—Care of Young Maiden—Go-between in Maiden’s Love
Affairs—Comfort and Consolation.

The Nurse and the Grown Son—Eurycleia—Cilissa—Moschio’s
Nurse—Old Nurse in Demosthenes—Esteem for Nurse....

The Nurse in the Household—Washing—Eurycleia’s Duties—Duties
Enumerated by Demeter—Tragedy—Comedy—General
Characteristics of the Nurse—Eurycleia—Nurse in Herodotus—
Orestes’ Nurse—Nurse in Medea—in Trachiniae—in Hippolytus—
Aristophanes’ πιστὴ, τροφός—Nurse’s Care Shown in Samia—in
Real Life—Instances of Unkindness Few—Plutarch—Stobaeus—
Aristophanes—Chattering and Tippling Propensities—
Metaphors of Nurse 16

CHAPTER IV. NURSERY TALES AND LULLABIES.

The Nurse in Education—First Lessons Imparted by Means of
Tales—Isolated Traces of Nursery Tales—Held in Contempt by
the Greeks—Apotropaic Tales—Lamia—Gorgon—Mormolyke—Acco—
Alphito—Empusa—Strigla—Wolf—Example from Theocritus—from
Callimachus—Mormo—Bad Effects of these Tales—Protreptic
Tales—Subject Matter—Censorship by Plato and Aristotle—
Immoral effects of Stories about the Gods—Hermes—Hercules—
Odysseus—Theseus and Ariadne—Magic Rings—Rings of Gyges—
Tales Told for Comfort and Consolation—Festival of the
Oschophoria—Style—Purpose—Aesopic Tales—Libyan—Cyprian—
Sybaritic—Traces of Lullabies—Metrical Humming—Peculiar
Tune—Imitations of Lullabies—Lullaby of Alcmena—Lament of
Danae—Chorus in Philoctetes—in Orestes 34

CHAPTER V. MONUMENTS TO THE NURSE.

Form—Relief—Melitta—Malicha—τίτθη χρηστή—Name of Nurse
Added—Her Master—Country—Simple Word τίτθη—Nurse
represented on Monument of Mother—Shared in Grief of
Family—Literary Evidence of Monuments—Theocritus—
Anthology—Callimachus 45

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

I. TEXTS OF SOURCES 49

II. SECONDARY AUTHORITIES 50

CHAPTER I
TERMS USED FOR NURSE

Of the various terms employed in the literature to designate the nurse
we shall speak only of four: τροφός, τιθήνη, μαῖα, and τίτθη. The first
three are found in Homer[1] and the Hymns[2] with no apparent difference
of meaning. τίτθη is of later origin and is used of a wet-nurse by
Plato,[3] Demosthenes,[4] Aristotle,[5] Antiphanes,[6] Plutarch,[7]
Soranus.[8] The ancient lexicographers generally bear out this meaning
of the word. While Herodianus (I, 456, l. 2, Lentz), Hesychius and
Photius give τροφός as a synonym for τίτθη, Suidas defines it more at
length: τίτθαι, οὕτω καλοῦνται αἱ τοῖς τιτθίοις καὶ τῷ γάλακτι τρέφουσαι
τὰ παιδία. Eustathius[9] calls wet-nurses τίτθαι, and those who have the
care of children after weaning τιθηνοί and τροφοί: τίτθαι ... αἱ τοὺς
τιτθοὺς παρέχουσαι ... τιθηνοὶ δέ, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τροφοί ... αἱ τὸν ἄλλον
φασί, πόνον μετὰ τὸν ἀπογαλακτισμὸν ἀναεχόμεναι. Pollux defines τίτθαι
as αἱ θηλάζουσαι (II, 163) and again (III, 50) he says: τὴν δὲ
θηλάζουσαν Εὔπολις τίτθην θηλάστριαν ὠνόμασε. Between τιθήνη and τίτθη
he makes this distinction: ἡ δὲ τροφὸς τῆς κόρης, τιθήνη· καὶ ἡ γάλα
παρέχουσα τίτθη (III, 41). However, a writer of the second century A. D.
plainly referring to a wet-nurse, uses τίθηνη,

κοῦρος ὑπ’ ἐκ μαζοῖο τιθήνης
χείλεσιν αὖ ἐρύει λαρὸν γλάγος.[10]

The Etymologicum Magnum refers τιθήνη to τιτθόν: τιθήνας, τροφοὺς παρὰ
τὸ τιτθόν. According to Brugmann[11] τίτθη, τιθήνη, τίτθος are formed by
reduplication beside θήλη, “mother’s breast.”

As to the word τροφός, Herodianus (I, 225, l. 11, Lentz) refers it to
τρέφω. Hesychius[12] contrasts it with θρέμμα, “nursling.” Pollux
(l. c.) seems to distinguish τροφός and μαῖα and to take the latter as
meaning more strictly, “Ea quae lactat,” as Stephanus remarks in his
Thesaurus.

Various meanings were attached to the word μαῖα. Besides its use as
“mid-wife,” it was employed as a form of address in speaking to nurses:

εἰ δ’ ἄγε δή μοι, μαῖα φίλη.[13]

μαῖα, θεῶν μὲν δῶρα καὶ ἀχνύμενοι περ ἀνάγκῃ.[14]

μαῖα, πάλιν μου κρύψον κεφαλάν.[15]

The signification was even extended to embrace the true mother, as
attested by Euripides, Alcestis 393, where the child says of its mother:
μαῖα δὴ κάτω βέβακεν.

To distinguish accurately and sharply between the different words for
nurse is not our present purpose. Doubtless the differences between them
were not broad and clear even to the Greeks themselves. τροφός seems to
be employed as the generic term, while τίτθη is generally used for
“wet-nurse” and τροφός and τιθήνη for “nursery-maid.”

CHAPTER II
SOCIAL STATUS OF THE NURSE

_From Homer to Herodotus_

The Homeric poems deal wholly with the life of the upper classes. Hence
we do not get from them a complete picture of how all classes lived.
Even for the aristocrat therein described, the habits of life were
simple. Mothers nursed their own children: thus Hecuba speaks to her
son, Hector:

Ἕκτορ, τέκνον ἐμόν, τάδε τ’ αἴδεο καὶ μ’ ἐλέησον
αὐτήν, εἴ ποτέ τοι λαθικηδέα μαζὸν ἐπέσχον.[16]

Still, there is one instance which points to a different practice.
Odysseus in addressing his old nurse Eurycleia says:

μαῖα, τίη μ’ ἐθέλεις ὀλέσαι; σὺ δέ μ’ ἔτρεφες αὐτὴ
τῷ σῷ ἐπὶ μαζῷ.[17]

The expression ἐπὶ μαζῷ here employed is used in another place of the
relation between mother and child:

πάις δέ οἱ ἦν ἐπὶ μαζῷ
νήπιος, ὅς που νῦν γε μετ’ ἀνδρῶν ἵζει ἀριθμῷ[18]

However this may be, nurses were employed as the attendants of the
children whom they amused and brought up as long as they remained in the
house of the parents.

Whatever function she performed, the Homeric nurse was a slave, either a
captive:

τήν ποτ’ Ἀπείρηθεν νέες ἤγαγον ἀμφιέλισσαι.[19]

or purchased as an ordinary slave:

τήν ποτε Λαέρτης πρίατο κτεάτεσσιν ἑοῖσι,
πρωθήβην ἔτ’ ἐοῦσαν, ἐεικοσάβοια δ’ ἔδωκεν.[20]

The Phrygian nurse of Hector’s son may be taken as a model of the Greek
nurse of an infant. Nothing is said as to her social standing, but we
infer from her occupation[21] that she was a slave.

The Phoenician woman, nurse to Eumaeus, gives us an instance of the
nurse of an older child. She had been captured and sold as a slave to a
master, whose hard bonds she feared:

ἀλλά μ’ ἀνήρπαξαν Τάφιοι ληίστορες ἄνδρες
ἀγρόθεν ἐρχομένην, πέρασαν δέ τε δεῦρ’ ἀγαγόντες
τοῦδ’ ἀνδρὸς πρὸς δώμαθ’· ὁ δ’ ἄξιον ὦνον ἔδωκε.
· · · · ·
μή τις ποτὶ δῶμα γέροντι
ἐλθὼν ἐξείπῃ, ὁ δ’ ὀϊσάμενος καταδήσῃ
δεσμῷ ἐν ἀργαλέῳ, ὑμῖν δ’ ἐπιφράσσετ’ ὄλεθρον.[22]

In striking contrast to this unfaithful slave is Eurycleia, the nurse of
the grown son, whose rank is higher than that of the ordinary slave, for
she had general supervision over the fifty female slaves of the
household and assisted the mistress in teaching them:

πεντήκοντά τοί εἰσιν ἐνὶ μεγάροισι γυναῖκες
δμωαί, τὰς μέν τ’ ἔργα διδάξαμεν ἐργάζεσθαι,
εἴριά τε ξαίνειν κὰι δουλοσύνην ἀνέχεσθαι.[23]

It is she, too, who fills the important office of ταμίη.[24] Indeed, she
is treated as a member of the family, is the friend and confidante of
the mistress who shows her great deference.[25]

The nurse of the grown daughter is seen in Eurymedusa who had been a
captive, the prize of King Alcinous.[26]

Penelope’s nurse, Eurynome, has much the same office as Eurycleia.[27]
Like her, she is a trusted slave devoted to her mistress.

In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, the duties which the goddess takes upon
herself when she assumes the form of a nurse are identical with those
performed by Eurycleia in the Odyssey:

καί κεν παῖδα νεογνὸν ἐν ἀγκοίνῃσιν ἔχουσα
καλὰ τιθηνοίμην, καὶ δώματα τηρήσαιμι,
καί κε λέχος στορέσαιμι μυχῷ θαλάμων εὐπήκτων
δεσπόσυνον, καί κ’ ἔργα διδασκήσαιμι γυναῖκας.[28]

Still, she is not the slave of the people for whom she works, and is
promised such compensation (θρεπτήρια) for her services as would make
her an object of envy to the women of the household.[29]

Aphrodite learned Anchises’ language from her Trojan nurse:

γλῶσσαν δ’ ὑμετέρην καὶ ἡμετέρην σάφα οἶδα·
Τρῳὰς γὰρ μεγάρῳ με τροφὸς τρέφεν, ἡ δὲ διαπρό
σμικρὴν παῖδ’ ἀτίταλλε φίλης παρὰ μητρὸς ἑλοῦσα.[30]

The nurse is probably a slave, for wherever slave-trading was known it
must have been usual to employ a foreign nurse.

The historians naturally have but little occasion to speak of domestic
life. Herodotus, however, introduces into his narrative not only
political history, but also matters of purely social interest. Hence we
are not surprised to find a nurse in his sixth book.[31] This nurse is
presumably a slave, for she receives the commands of the parents to show
the child to no one.

_In Tragedy._

The nurses of Tragedy are old women who have spent years in the service
of their masters (παλαιὸν οἴκων κτῆμα).[32] Even after the child they
had nursed had grown up, they were still retained in the household.[33]
There can be no doubt that like the nurses of Homer they were
slaves.[34] Medea’s nurse is addressed as κτῆμα δεσποίνης[35] and when
speaking to the παιδαγωγός, she calls herself σύνδουλος.[36] Then, too,
the fall of the mistress involved that of the nurse, a calamity hinted
at in Hippolytus:

οὐ δῆθ’ ἑκοῦσά γ’, ἐν δὲ σοὶ λελείψομαι;[37]

and in Medea:

χρηστοῖσι δούλοις ξυμφορὰ τὰ δεσποτῶν
κακῶς πίτνοντα, καὶ φρενῶν ἀνθάπτεται.[38]

Hecuba, bewailing her fate, foresees that she who had once been Queen of
Troy will be forced to become the nurse of children.[39]

_In Athens_

But it was not only captives and slaves who nursed children. In the
fourth century we find at Athens free women performing the office of
nurse. Euxitelos in pleading against Eubolides answers the reproach they
attach to his mother of having been a nurse. He says that his father had
gone to the war, leaving his mother with two small children to support.
Hence she was obliged to take Cleinias to nurse: αὐτὴ δ’ οὖ σ’ ἐν
ἀπορίαις, ἠναγκάσθη τὸν Κλεινίαν τὸν τοῦ Κλειδίκου τιτθεῦσαι.[40] He
admits that it is a mean employment, but affirms that he can give the
names of free-born women, who, like his mother, were compelled by stress
of poverty to become nurses: καὶ γὰρ νῦν ἀστὰς γυναῖκας πολλὰς εὑρήσετε
τιτθευούσας.[41]

In another Oration of Demosthenes, In Evergum, there is an instance of
an old and poor nurse living with the man she had nursed as a child. The
father of this person, in recompense for her care, had given her her
freedom: καὶ μετ’ αὐτῆς τίτθή τις ἐμοὶ γενομένη πρεσβυτέρα, ἄνθρωπος
εὔνους καὶ πιστή, καὶ ἀφειμένη ἐλευθέρα ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς τοῦ ἐμοῦ.[42] She
married and on the death of her husband returned to her nursling, who
received her all the more willingly inasmuch as he was about to leave
home and was pleased to have such a sure companion for his wife. When
Euvergus and his accomplices break into the house, they find the old
woman seated at table with the mistress and children. The nurse, trying
to conceal a vase in her dress, is seen by the robbers who fall upon her
and beat her until she gives it up. Some days afterwards she dies from
injuries received, but not before having been cared for by a doctor
summoned especially for her.

No instance is given by Plato or Aristotle of the manumission of a
nurse. The former, on the contrary, speaks of the δούλεια ἤθη
τροφῶν.[43]

The nurse of New Comedy is usually a slave; still she sometimes receives
her freedom, as in the case of Moschio’s nurse in the Samia of Menander:

τοῦ δὲ Μοσχίωνος ἦν
τίτθη τις αὕτη πρεσβυτέρα, γεγονυῖ’ ἐμὴ
θεράπαιν’, ἐλευθέρα δὲ νῦν.[44]

“Though emancipated, she yet remained in the service of her former
master,” her status being similar to that of the metic.[45] We also have
inscriptional evidence that women belonging to the metic class were
employed as nurses who being free-born must have received wages:
Ἀπολλοδώρου ἰσοτέλου θυγάτηρ Μέλιττα τίτθη.[46]

_Foreign Nurses_

Though the Athenians had a natural repugnance to the severity of the
Spartan discipline, still the aversion was not so intense but that some
of the Lacedemonian customs found ready acceptance in Athens.
Aristophanes, Birds, 1281,[47] makes it clear that the Athenians were
“Spartan-mad.” For this reason, no doubt, Spartan women whose robust
health was famed throughout Greece,[48] were sought to inaugurate that
regimen peculiar to the Spartan nurse. Hence Plutarch: Διὸ καὶ τῶν
ἔξωθεν ἔνιοι τοῖς τέκνοις Λακωνικὰς ἐωνοῦντο τιτθάς,[49] and he also
records that Amycla, the nurse of Alcibiades was a Spartan: Ἀλκιβιάδου
δὲ καὶ τίτθην, γένος Λάκαιναν, Ἀμύκλαν ὄνομα.[50] The virtue of these
Spartan women and the esteem in which they were generally held are
attested to by a monument erected by Diogeitus to the nurse of his
children. On it we find the following inscription:

Ἐνθάδε γῆ κατέχει τίτθην παιδίων Διογείτου ἐκ
Πελοποννήσου τὴν δὲ δικαιοτάτην.
Μαλίχα Κυθηρία.[51]

But it was not only from Sparta that the Athenians obtained nurses for
their children. We have an inscription from the monument of the
Corinthian nurse Φάνιον.[52] And there is an epigram of Callimachus on a
Phrygian nurse whose master cared for her during her life-time, and when
she was dead set up her statue, that posterity might see how the old
woman received in full the thanks for her nurture.[53] Thrace, too,
furnished its share of types of nurses:

καί μ’ ἁ Θευχαρίδα Θρᾷσσα τροφὸς ἁ μακαρῖτις
ἀγχίθυρος ναίοισα, κατεύξατο καὶ λιτάνεσε
τὰν πομπὰν θάσασθαι.[54]

Such was the honor in which they were held that one Cleita was
considered worthy of a monument, as we learn from an epigram of
Theocritus:

ὁ μίκκος τόδ’ ἔτευξε τᾷ Θραΐσσᾳ,
Μήδειος τὸ μνᾶμ’ ἐπὶ τᾷ ὁδῷ κἠπέγραψε Κλείτας.[55]

The fact that the Greeks employed foreign nurses may also be inferred
from the essay, De Liberis Educandis, attributed to Plutarch, in which
the author loudly inveighs against the practice of entrusting children
to any nurse whatsoever. He insists on her being selected with the
utmost care, laying down as a fundamental qualification that she be of
the Greek race: ἀλλὰ τάς γε τίτθας καὶ τὰς τροφούς, οὐ τὰς τυχούσας,
ἀλλ’ ὡς ἔνι μάλιστα σπουδαίας, δοκιμαστέον ἐστί. πρῶτον μὲν τοῖς ἤθεσιν
Ἑλληνίδας.[56] According to the same author these women received wages
for their work: αἱ τίτθαι δὲ καὶ αἱ τροφοὶ τὴν εὔνοιαν ὑποβολιμαίαν καὶ
παρέγγραπτον ἔχουσιν, ἅτε μισθοῦ φιλοῦσαι.[57]

Such was the social status of this Greek nurse, a picture necessarily
composite since the details are drawn from so many sources; but from
what has been said, it may be concluded that the nurse, though usually a
slave, was sometimes manumitted, that a preference was frequently shown
at Athens for the foreign-bred nurse and that on occasion free women
resorted to nursing as a means of gaining a livelihood.

CHAPTER III
THE NURSE AND THE FAMILY

The helpless condition of infancy has always called for special offices
to tide the child over the first years of life. These offices are
performed either by mother or nurse. Among the Greeks, the nurse was a
familiar figure in the household; and although our knowledge of Greek
domestic life must necessarily be limited from the fact that the women’s
apartments are so persistently closed against us, nevertheless from
side-lights furnished by our threefold source of information—the
literature, the art and the inscriptions—we cannot help being impressed
by the important place which the nurse held in the family.

Let us now turn to a more exact consideration of the various duties of
the nurse in relation to the children, to the grown daughter, the grown
son and lastly to the household. In this way we shall be led to a
clearer conception of the general characteristics which marked the
nurse’s dealings with her charge.

DUTIES TO THE CHILD

_Bathing_

Among the principal duties incumbent on the nurse of an infant was the
giving of the bath. That it was given immediately after birth, we infer
from Lycophron’s Alexandra, 309, where a child dies πρὶν ἐκ λοχείας γυῖα
χυτλῶσαι δρόσῳ, and also from Plautus, Amphitryo, 1103: “Postquam
peperit pueros lavere iussit nos.” The heroine nymphs of Libya, acting
as nurses, bathed Athena when she leaped in gleaming armor from the head
of Zeus.[58] Some nurses preferred pure water;[59] others, like the
Spartans, bathed the child in wine as a test of its strength, they being
of the opinion that the weakly ones would faint, but the more vigorous
would acquire firmness and hardness after a bath of this kind.[60] On a
vase portraying the life of Achilles one of the scenes shows the nurse
giving the infant son of Thetis his first bath.[61] The vessel in which
this bath is given is mentioned by Pindar:

ἐπεί νιν καθαροῦ λέβητος ἔξελε Κλωθώ.[62]

_Swaddling Clothes_

Attic nurses wrapped the infant in swaddling clothes (σπάργανα).[63] As
far as we can gather from the grave-reliefs these seem to have been long
narrow strips of cloth bound like bandages around the child’s body,
which they completely covered from head to foot, leaving nothing but the
face uncovered.[64] White,[65] purple,[66] and saffron[67] are mentioned
as colors of these bands. The practice of swaddling children is alluded
to by Hesiod,[68] and frequent reference is made to it by the
Tragedians.[69] The Theban children given over to the state were
swaddled.[70] The nurse in the Amphitryo complained that Hercules was so
large she could not swathe him.[71] How long the children were kept thus
bound we do not know; but we can hardly suppose that it was until they
had reached the age of two years, as Plato advises.[72] The Spartan
nurses dispensed with these bands, allowing the children to grow up
unrestrained in limb and form.[73] Exposed children were sometimes
recognized by the swaddling clothes.[74]

_Food_

The child was suckled either by mother[75] or nurse.[76] Naturally the
practice of employing wet-nurses prevailed chiefly among well-to-do
mothers.[77] The author of the De Liberis Educandis counsels mothers to
nurse their own children, and dilates on the advantages accruing
therefrom; nevertheless he permits the employment of wet-nurses wherever
the mothers cannot perform the duty themselves.[78] Antiphanes
considered the Scythians the wisest of men because they fed their
children on mare’s and cow’s milk, and did not entrust them to nurses as
did the Greeks.[79] In the Menaechmi of Plautus distinction is made
between “mater quae mammam dabat” and “mater quae pepererat,”[80] and in
the Adelphi of Terence the services of a nurse are secured for a
courtesan.[81] We have ample evidence from Demosthenes that this
employment was resorted to by poor women as a means of livelihood during
the hard times which followed the Peloponnesian War.[82] We read besides
that nurses were allowed to nurse but one child at a time.[83] Plato
refers to definite laws regarding the nurture of children,[84] and
speaks of the time when they were fed with milk: ἐκ νέων παίδων ἔτι ἐν
γάλαξι τρεφόμενοι.[85] In the community of wives and children, he would
have the mothers, from a feeling of humanity, assisted in the nurture of
the children by wet-nurses: καὶ ἄλλας γάλα ἐχούσας ἐκπορίζοντες.[86]
Aristotle associates infantile maladies with the physical condition of
the nurse: εἴωτε δὲ τὰ παιδία τὰ πλεῖστα σπασμὸς ἐπιλαμβάνειν καὶ μᾶλλον
τὰ εὐτραφέστερα καὶ γάλακτι χρώμενα πλείονα ἢ παχυτέρῳ καὶ τίτθαις
εὐσάρκοις,[87] and φύει δὲ πρῶτον τοὺς προσθίους, καὶ τὰ μὲν τοὺς ἄνωθεν
πρότερον, τὰ δὲ τοὺς κάτωθεν. πάντα δὲ θᾶττον φύουσιν, ὅσων αἱ τίτθαι
θερμότερον ἔχουσι τὸ γάλα.[88] He objects to the use of wine for young
children,[89] and deems it unsuitable for the nurses as well: διὸ τοῖς
παιδίοις οὐ συμφέρουσιν οἱ οἶνοι, οὐδὲ ταῖς τίτθαις.[90] Dion Chrysostom
speaks of its use: ὥσπερ ὑπὸ τίτθης γάλακτι καὶ οἴνῳ καὶ σιτίοις,[91]
but Hippocrates says: ἀμεῖνον εἶναι τοῖς παιδίοισιν τὸν οἶνον ὡς
ὑδαρέστατον διδόναι.[92] After being weaned,[93] children were fed on
milk,[94] and honey.[95] According to Athenaeus, young children thrive
well on the juice of figs.[96] They were also fed on morsels: “αἱ τὰ
παιδία ψωμίζουσι τροφοί.”[97] The practice of first chewing the food
before giving it to the child seems to have been usual, for we have
several allusions to it. Democrates likens the orators to nurses αἱ τὸ
ψώμισμα καταπίνουσαι, τῷ σιάλῳ τὰ παιδία παραλείφουσι,[98] and Sextus
Empiricus has a similar statement: εἰκότως ταῖς τίτθαις, αἱ μικρὸν τοῦ
ψωμίσματος τοῖς παιδίοις διδοῦσαι τὸ ὅλον καταπίνουσι.[99] Nor did it
escape the ridicule of Aristophanes who says:

καθ’ ὥσπερ αἱ τίτθαι γε σιτίζεις κακῶς
μασώμενος γὰρ τῷ μὲν ὀλίγον ἐντίθης
αὐτὸς δ’ ἐκεῖνον τριπλάσιον κατέσπακας.[100]

Athenaeus tells the absurd story of a man who had his nurse chew his
food for him all his life: Σάγαριν τὸν Μαριανδυνὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ τρυφῆς
σιτεῖσθε μὲν μέχρι γήρως ἐκ τοῦ τῆς τίτθης στόματος, ἵνα μὴ μασώμενος
πονήσειεν.[101]

_The Child in the Nurse’s Arms_

In the beautiful idyllic scene of Iliad, vi, 389 ff., where Hector bids
farewell to Andromache and his darling son, it is to the familiar arms
of the nurse that the child turns when frightened by the glancing helm:

ἂψ δ’ ὁ παὶς πρὸς κόλπον εὐζώνοιο τιθήνης
ἐκλίνθη ἰάχων.[102]

In those arms he had been carried,[103] and when tired out from his
childish play there he had slept on a soft cushion satisfied with every
comfort:

αὐτὰρ ὅθ’ ὕπνος ἔλοι, παύσαιτό τε νηπιαχεύων,
εὕδεσκ’ ἐν λέκτροισιν, ἐν ἀγκαλίδεσσι τιθήνης,
εὐνῇ ενι μαλακῇ, θαλέων ἐμπλησάμενος κῆρ.[104]

In the Odyssey, too, the faithful Eurycleia is spoken of as carrying
Odysseus and laying him in the arms of his grandsire, that the latter
might choose for him a name.[105] The author of the Homeric Hymn to
Demeter puts these words into the mouth of the goddess-nurse:

καί κεν παῖδα νεογνὸν ἐν ἀγκοίνῃσιν ἔχουσα
καλὰ τιθηνοίμην.[106]

The nurse in Herodotus carried the child each day to the temple of
Helen.[107] Iphigenia speaking of Orestes says that she left him at home
a young child in the arms of his nurse:

ἔλιπον ἀγκάλαισι νεαρὸν τροφοῦ.[108]

At the festival of the Amphidromia, it was the nurse who carried the
child around the hearth;[109] and in the Nurse-festival (τιθηνίδια) at
Sparta, the nurses carried the male children to the temple of
Artemis.[110] We know that nurses walked the floor with fretful children
in order to soothe them. A good instance of this is given in Menander’s
Samia, 26–30 (Capps), where an old nurse fondles a child to her heart’s
content, kissing it and calling it soft names, walking around with it
until it is quieted. “The homeopathic cure of morbid ‘enthusiasm’ by
means of music was, it may be incidentally observed, known to Plato. In
a passage of the Laws,[111] where he is laying down the rules for the
management of infants, his advice is that infants should be kept in
perpetual motion, and live as if they were always tossing at sea. He
proceeds to compare the principle on which religious ecstasy is cured by
a strain of impassioned music, with the method of nurses, who lull their
babes to sleep not by silence but by singing, not by holding them quiet,
but by rocking them in their arms.... An external agitation (κίνησις) is
employed to calm and counteract an internal. But Plato recognized the
principle only as it applied to music and to the useful art of nursing.”

This perpetual motion used by the nurse is referred to in the
Timaeus,[112] and Aristotle thinks “it is of advantage to have all the
movements made (of the bodies of infants) that it is possible to have
made in the case of creatures so young.”[113] Plato lays down
regulations for the nurses to carry the children into the fields, to the
temples, and on visits to their acquaintances until they are able to
stand alone. He would have them carried until the end of the third year,
lest their limbs should be distorted by standing on them too soon: καὶ
δὴ καὶ τὰς τροφοὺς ἀναγκάζωμεν νόμῳ ζημιοῦντες τὰ παιδία ἢ πρὸς ἀγροὺς ἢ
πρὸς ἱερὰ ἢ πρὸς ὀικείους ἀεί πῃ φέρειν, μέχριπερ ἂν ἱκανῶς ἵστασθαι
δυνατὰ γίγνηται, καὶ τότε διευλαβουμένας, ἔτι νέων ὄντων μή πῃ βίᾳ
ἐπερειδομένων στρέφηται τὰ κῶλα ἐπιπονεῖν φερούσας, ἕως ἂν τριέτες
ἀποτελεσθῇ τὸ γενόμενον;[114] This is doubtless the reason why there is
no mention made of a contrivance to keep the children’s limbs straight
like the “serperastra”[115] in use among the Romans.[116] The Greeks
were careful to develop the body and to have it well-shapen. In the
Pseudo-Plutarchian Essay, De Liberis Educandis, the writer thinks it
necessary for the members of children to be shapen aright as soon as
they are born: ὥσπερ γὰρ τὰ μέλη τοῦ σώματος εὐθὺς ἀπὸ γενέσεως πλάττειν
τῶν τέκνων ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι.[117] In the De Virtute, the author tells us
that this is the work of the nurses: αἱ τίτθαι ταῖς χερσὶ τὸ σῶμα
πλάττουσι.[118] Plato, speaking of the influence of stories on the minds
of children, says that we must persuade the nurses and the mothers to
form the souls of their children by these stories πολὺ μᾶλλον ἢ τὰ
σώματα ταῖς χερσὶν.[119] This practice continued down to the days of
Galen as is shown from the following: τὰ κῶλα διαπλάττουσι αἱ τροφοὶ τῶν
βρεφῶν ὥσπερ κήρινα.[120]

_Cradles_

The nurse had various contrivances in which to place the children after
they were lulled to sleep. We read that Alcmena cradled her children in
a shield:

χάλκειον κατέθηκεν ἐπ’ ἀσπίδα.[121]

The scholiast on Callimachus, Jove, 48, alluding to this passage of
Theocritus, says that military men were accustomed to place their
children in shields after birth that they might become vigorous and
strong. A specimen of a Greek cradle, that of the infant Hermes, a
little two-handled basket shaped like a shoe, is seen on a vase.[122]
The σκάφη, another kind of cradle, is mentioned as being instrumental in
the ἀναγνώρισις of children: καὶ οἶνον ἐν τῇ Τυροῖ διὰ τῆς σκάφης.[123]
Children were also exposed in a σκάφη: ἐνθέμενος οὖν εἰς σκάφην τὰ
βρέφη.[124] Adrasteia, the nurse of Zeus, lulled him to sleep in a
golden winnowing-fan:

Λίκνῳ ἐνὶ χρυσέῳ.[125]

It was considered an omen of future wealth and prosperity to place
children in these λίκνα.[126] Bacchus is called λικνίτης,[127] and is
represented as carried in a λίκνον between a faun and a Bacchante.[128]
Hermes is conceived to have been cradled in the same manner.[129]
Another kind of cradle shown on a vase looks like a bed on rollers,[130]
and answers very well to the description given by Plutarch, Fragm. in
Hesiod, 45: οἷά τισιν εὐκίνητα κλινίδια μεμηχάνηται πρὸς τὴν τῶν παιδίων
εὐνήν. The rocking of the cradle is mentioned by Athenaeus: ἡ τροφὸς ...
ἐτίθει αὐτὸ ἐν σκάφῃ ... ὅτε δὲ κλαίοι ... τὴν σκάφην ἐκίνει καὶ
κατεκοίμιζεν αὐτό.[131]

_Amusements Furnished by the Nurse_

It was natural for the nurse to amuse the children with the various
kinds of toys in use in antiquity. Of these, both the literature and the
art of Greece furnish many examples. We shall here consider only the
toys which are mentioned in direct connection with the nurse. That the
nurse sometimes made toys for the children, we learn from Apollonius
Rhodius, iii, 131 ff., where the wonderful ball of Zeus τὸ οἷ ποίησε
φίλη τροφὸς Ἀδράστεια is described. The shaking of rattles (κρόταλα)
before children by the nurse is spoken of by Stobaeus,[132] and Pollux
has preserved a passage dealing with the same subject: τὸ κρόταλον καὶ
τὸ σεῖστρον, ᾧ καταβαυκαλῶσιν αἱ τίτθαι ψυχαγωγοῦσαι τὰ δυσυπνοῦντα τῶν
παιδίων.[133] We have a vase-painting which portrays a nurse holding in
her arms a child, while before its face she dandles a fruit.[134]
Plutarch’s little daughter used to ask her nurse to give her dolls the
breast.[135] We learn from Plautus that the nurses took the children to
the theatres:

Nutrix ...
Me spectatum tulerat per Dionysia.[136]

And in the Poenulus, the nurses are bidden to refrain from bringing the
children to that play.[137] In Vitruvius’ account of the origin of the
Corinthian Capital, there is mention made of a Corinthian nurse who
gathers in a basket the playthings which had served for the amusement of
her nursling in life, in order to adorn the tomb with them after
death.[138]

_General Care Over Children_

To keep the child clean and to attend to all its wants were the
principal occupations of the nurse. Cilissa recalls in touching terms
the childhood of her dear nursling whose death she had just learned. She
ran to him by night, at his least cry, anticipating all his wishes and
foreseeing all his needs. Careful for the child’s cleanliness, she
washes its garments and its linen:

ὃν ἐξέθρεψα μητρόθεν δεδεγμένη,
καὶ νυκτιπλάγκτον ὀρθίων κελευμάτων
καὶ πολλὰ καὶ μοχθήρ’ ἀνωφέλητ’ ἐμοὶ
τλάσῃ. τὸ μὴ φρονοῦν γὰρ ὡσπερεὶ βοτὸν
τρέφειν ἀνάγκη, πῶς γὰρ οὔ; τρόπῳ φρενός·
οὐ γάρ τι φωνεῖ παῖς ἔτ’ ὢν ἐν σπαργάνοις,
εἰ λιμὸς ἢ δίψη τις, ἢ λιψουρία
ἔχει· νέα δὲ νηδὺς αὐτάρκης τέκνων.
τούτων πρόμαντις οὖσα, πολλὰ δ’, οἴομαι,
ψευσθεῖσα παιδὸς σπαργάνων φαιδρύντρια·
γναφεὺς τροφεύς τε ταὐτὸν εἰχέτην τέλος.[139]

With less vividness Moschio’s nurse recalls the days of his infancy.

πρώην τοιοῦτον ὄντα Μοσχίων’ ἐγώ,
αὐτὸν ἐτιθηνούμην ἀγαπῶσα, νῦν δ’ ἐπεὶ
παιδίον ἐκείνου γέγονεν.[140]

Suidas suggests another duty in an anonymous passage: μειράκια, ταῖς
τίτθαις ἀπομύττειν ... ἀποπέμψατε, and the same thing is referred to in
the first book of the Republic: περιορᾷ καὶ οὐκ ἀπομύττει.[141] After
the children were washed and dressed by the nurses, they were brought to
their mothers who took them up and played with them.[142] This fondling
of children is mentioned in Agamemnon:

πολέα δ’ ἐσχ’ ἐν ἀγκάλαις
νεοτρόφου τέκνου δίκαν.[143]

and in Orestes:

καὶ γὰρ μ’ ἔθρεψε σμικρὸν ὄντα, πολλὰ δὲ
φιλήματ’ ἐξέπλησε, τὸν Ἀγαμέμνονος
παῖδ’ ἀγκάλαισι περιφέρων.[144]

That it was resorted to by the nurses, we gather from Samia, 29 ff.,
where we also learn that the nurse used pet names in speaking to the
children. Aeschines says that Demosthenes acquired the nickname βάταλος
from his nurse.[145]

In learning to walk the children must have had many a tumble; but the
nurse was always at hand to pick them up, and clean them, and tidy their
dress and afterwards find fault with and correct them: καὶ γὰρ αἱ τίτθαι
τοῖς παιδίοις πεσοῦσιν οὐ λοιδορησόμεναι προστρέχουσιν, ἀλλ’ ἤγειραν καὶ
κατέστειλαν, εἶθ’ οὕτως ἐπιπλήττουσι καὶ κολάζουσι.[146] Epictetus
speaks of a nurse beating the stone which had caused a child to
stumble.[147] Philoctetes, miserably crawling along the ground to obtain
food, likens himself to a child without its kind nurse:

τότ’ ἂν εἰλυόμενος, παῖς ἄτερ ὡς φίλας τίθηνας.[148]

Plato speaks of a method nurses had of finding out what children want.
When anything is brought to an infant and he is silent, then he is
supposed to be pleased, but when he weeps and cries out, then he is not
pleased.[149] Aristotle thinks that the crying of infants should not be
restrained since it is conducive to their growth: συμφέρουσι γὰρ πρὸς
αὔξησιν,[150] but Plutarch in his De Cohibenda Ira says: ὅπερ οὖν αἱ
τίτθαι πρὸς τὰ παιδία λέγουσι “μὴ κλαῖε καὶ λήψῃ” τοῦτο πρὸς τὸν θυμὸν
οὐκ ἀχρήστως.[151] By means of amulets and charms the nurses sedulously
guarded the children against the pernicious influence of witchcraft and
the evil eye. Demeter, in the Homeric Hymn, promises the mother that no
harm shall come to the child from witchcraft:

θρέψω, κοὔ μιν ἔολπα κακοφραδίῃσι τιθήνης
οὔτ’ ἄρ’ ἐπηλυσίη δηλήσεται οὔθ’ ὑποτάμνον.[152]

The amulets were usually of a grotesque character that the sight being
diverted to them should not make so strong an impression on the
child.[153] On the approach of a stranger, a nurse in charge of a
sleeping infant would spit towards him as if to keep off from the child
a possibly evil influence.[154] Another charm against the evil eye is
preserved by St. John Chrysostom: βόρβορον αἱ γυναῖκες ἐν τῷ βαλανείῳ
λαμβάνουσαι τροφοὶ καὶ θεραπαινίδες καὶ τῷ δακτύλῳ χρίσασαι κατὰ τοῦ
πετώπου τυποῦσι τοῦ παιδίου κἂν ἔρηταί τις, τί βούλεται ὁ βόρβορος τὶ δὲ
ὁ πηλός; ὀφθαλμὸν πονηρὸν ἀναστρέφει, φασί, καὶ βασκανίαν καὶ
φθόνον.[155]

At what age the children left the care of the nurses is not certain.
Chrysippus allows three years to them,[156] and according to Plato, the
boys and girls were separated at six.[157] It seems clear that the boys,
at least, were sent early to school to keep them out of harm’s way: ἐπεὶ
καὶ αἱ τίτθαι τοιάδε λέγουσι περὶ τῶν παιδίων ὡς ἀπιτέον αὐτοῖς ἐς
διδασκάλου. καὶ γὰρ ἂν μηδέπω μαθεῖν ἀγαθόν τι δύνωνται, ἀλλ’ οὖν φαῦλον
οὐδὲν ποιήσουσιν ἐκεῖ μένοντες.[158]

_The Nurse and the Grown Daughter_

The tie between nurse and child might continue strong in later years.
She often remained in the family as the attendant and sometimes as the
confidante of the young maiden. Thus Nausicaa’s old nurse lights her
fire and prepares her evening meal:

ἥ οἱ πῦρ ἀνέκαιε καὶ εἴσω δόρπον ἐκόσμει.[159]

The same nurse who had tended Phaedra as an infant remained in her
service until the death of her mistress. Her devotion, introduced mainly
as a dramatic expedient, is nevertheless lifelike. Indeed it is the
blindness, even to precipitancy, of her love of Phaedra which must be
held accountable for the method employed by her to cure the distemper of
her mistress. This she herself acknowledges in her answer to Phaedra:

ἔθρεψά σ’ εὔνους τ’ εἰμί· τῆς νόσου δέ σοι
ζητοῦσα φάρμαχ’ ηὗρον οὐχ ἁβουλόμην.
εἰ δ’ εὔ γ’ ἔπραξα, κάρτ’ ἂν ἐν σοφοῖσιν ἦ·
πρὸς τὰς τύχας γὰρ τὰς φρένας κεκτήμεθα.[160]

We read that the nurse accompanied the young maiden out of doors,
guarded her well, looking askance at admirers who were attracted by the
girl’s beauty: “Thou old nurse of a loved one, why do you bark at me
while approaching you, and harshly throw me into twice as many pains?
For you are leading a very beautiful virgin in whose steps I am
treading. See, how I am going along my own path. It is sweet merely to
look upon her form. What grudging of eyes is there, thou wretched one!
We look upon the forms of even the immortals....”[161]

Still, she is sometimes the go-between in the maiden’s love affairs, as
in the tale of Acontius and Cydippe.[162] So, too, the old nurse of Hero
dries the tears of her love-sick charge and receives her
confidence.[163] The power and influence of Polyxo, the aged nurse of
Hypsiple, are evidenced by the fact of her being consulted in an affair
of state.[164] That these old nurses were wont to comfort and console
their charges when grown up, we learn from the following:

ἠύτε κούρη
οἰόθεν ἀσπασίως πολιὴν τροφὸν ἀμφιπεσοῦσα
μύρεται.[165]

_The Nurse and the Grown Son_

Outside of Homer, we do not find the nurse as actively engaged in duties
towards the grown son as towards the daughter. Eurycleia continued her
care of Telemachus until he came to man’s estate. She accompanied him to
his chamber, folded and smoothed his clothes, and having hung them up,
carefully closed the door after her.[166] She welcomed him as a son on
his return from Pylos,[167] and is sought by him as his faithful
friend.[168] She gently reproved him for having blamed his mother where
there was no blame,[169] yet she was anxious to see him established in
his rights.[170] She is the first to recognize her old master and former
nursling, Odysseus.[171] On the recognition, he addresses her by the old
name of his childhood, μαῖα, which Telemachus also uses.[172]

The grief of Cilissa for Orestes shows that her love for him had endured
beyond the nursery days.[173] The unfortunate woodcutter in Callimachus’
Demeter, who had offended the goddess, was bewailed by the nurse by whom
he had been suckled.[174] Moschio’s nurse still retained loving thoughts
of her dear child, Moschio, and was much interested in the son for the
sake of the father.[175] The old nurse in Demosthenes’ In Evergum was
welcomed by her former nursling as a safe companion for his wife during
his absence, and his care of her after the robbery is an evidence of the
esteem in which she was held.[176] A further indication of the love and
gratitude evinced by young men for the nurses of their childhood is
shown in the relatively large number of monuments and epigrams dedicated
to them.[177]

_The Nurse in the Household_

When the nurse was not occupied with the child, she owed towards the
household, duties which are specifically mentioned in Homer; but not so
clearly defined in later authors. Thus the nurse of Eumaeus is engaged
in washing when she is seduced by the pirates.[178] Eurycleia is the
mainstay of the house in Ithaca, having complete charge of the domestic
arrangements. In the morning, she gives her directions for the day’s
work to the female slaves[179] over whom she has joint supervision with
the mistress.[180] These, she taught how to perform the various works of
the house—making beds, strewing couches, carding wool, setting tables
and cleaning rooms. Besides, she is the stewardess of the household:

ἐν δὲ γυνὴ ταμίη νύκτας τε καὶ ἦμαρ
ἔσχ’, ἣ πάντ’ ἐφύλασσε νόου πολυιδρείῃσιν,
Εὐρύκλει’, Ὦπος θυγάτηρ Πεισηνορίδαο.[181]

and to her Telemachus applies for provisions for his journey.[182] It is
characteristic of her to keep the best wine against the homecoming of
Odysseus.[183]

Demeter enumerates the duties incumbent on a nurse in addition to her
nursing cares:

οἷαί τε τροφοί εἰσι θεμιστοπόλων βασιλήων
παίδων καὶ ταμίαι κατὰ δώματα ἠχήεντα.
· · · · ·
... καὶ δώματα τηρήσαιμι,
καί κε λέχος στορέσαιμι μυχῷ θαλάμων εὐπήκτων
δεσπόσυνον, καὶ κ’ ἔργα διδασκήσαιμι γυναῖκας.[184]

They are substantially the same as those of Eurycleia.

So far as we can see, the nurse of Tragedy is occupied almost
exclusively with the mistress. The nurse of Medea, however, affects a
superior tone in speaking to the παιδαγωγός,[185] and gives him
directions concerning the children.[186] In a similar way the nurse of
Comedy seems to have authority over some of the servants.[187]

_General Characteristics of the Nurse_

Instances of the love and devotedness of nurses are not wanting in the
literature. From Homer down, we see the nurse as a kind mother lavishing
love and affection on the child that she nursed. In the Odyssey,
Eurycleia is represented as loving Telemachus more than did the other
women:

καὶ ἔτρεφε τυτθὸν ἐόντα.[188]

and Penelope bears witness that Eurycleia had diligently nursed and
tended Odysseus:

εὐ τρέφεν ἤδ’ ἀτίταλλε.[189]

Right willingly did the old nurse give her services to one who reminded
her of her master. She is the first to recognize him by the scar he had
received in his youth. Then

τὴν δ’ ἅμα χάρμα καὶ ἄλγος ἕλε φρένα, τὼ δέ οἱ ὄσσε
δακρυόφι πλῆσθεν, θαλερὲ δέ οἱ ἔσχετο φωνή.[190]

A picture of true devotedness is given by Herodotus,[191] where a nurse
takes an ugly child every day to the temple of Helen to implore the gift
of beauty for her charge.

Stesichorus[192] and Pindar[193] assert that it was the nurse who saved
Orestes from his mother after his father’s murder. Aeschylus calls her
Cilissa, and points her out to us as full of love and devotedness for
the child.[194] Such is the devotion of Medea’s nurse for her mistress
that the old παιδαγωγός is surprised to see her outside the place
without Medea.[195] The nurse in the Trachiniae shows real grief for the
fate of her mistress,[196] while Phaedra’s nurse attributes her unwise
action to excess of love,[197] and Hypsipyle’s nursling is as dear to
her as her own child.[198] Fidelity is the attribute which characterizes
Aristophanes’ πιστὴ τροφός.[199] A good instance of the nurse’s care for
the child is given in Menander, where an old nurse, seeing a child
crying and neglected, goes up to it and says: “My darling, and my
precious, and where is Mama?” She then kisses it and walks about with it
until it stops crying, when she says to herself, “Ah me, it seems but
yesterday I was nursing that dear child, Moschio, and now that a child
is born to him!” Then to a young girl who comes running in from outside:
“Bathe the child, can’t you? What is this? Is it because it is his
father’s wedding day that you have no care of the little one?”[200]

Examples of tender attachment are also met with in real life.
Demosthenes furnishes a typical illustration in Oration, xlvii. “I
explained to the interpreters the attachment of the woman to our family,
the cause of my having her in my house, and that she had lost her life
in the defense of my property. She had no kind of family connection with
me, except that she had been my nurse.”

In contrast to these, we have but few instances of unkindness on the
part of the nurse. However, the perversity of human nature is
exemplified in the illustration Plutarch gives: “For nurses, who are
often rubbing the dirt off their infants, sometimes tear the flesh and
put them to torture.”[201] This contrary note is again struck in
Stobaeus,[202] where the lack of skill and teasing humor of some nurses
is portrayed. The child is hungry, the nurse obliges it to sleep; it is
thirsty, she gives it a bath; it is sleepy, she keeps it awake by
shaking rattles in its ears. Aristophanes, too, does not spare those
nurses who rob their nurslings of a part of their meal.[203] Though the
chattering[204] and tippling propensities[205] of the nurse are
sometimes referred to, we do not read that they led her to neglect the
child. In fact, neglect and unkindness to children are not
characteristic of the Greek nurse as popularly conceived. Of this we
have ample evidence from the number of metaphors employed in the
literature wherein the nurse figures and always in a good sense. One’s
fatherland is frequently called a nurse, since the care and nurture
bestowed on a man by his country is like that given the child by the
nurse. We read of the much-nourishing nurse, Greece (Ἑλλάδος ἀμητῆρα
πολυθρέπτοιο τιθήνης);[206] your motherland, most beloved nurse (γῇ τε
μητρί, φιλτάτῃ τροφῷ;)[207] this, thy country, nursed thee:

(οὔτ’ ἐννομ’ εἶπας οὐτε προσφιλὲς πόλει
τῇδ’, ἥ σ’ ἔθρεψε, τήνδ’ ἀποστερῶν φάτιν;)[208]

Apollo may love me as caring for his dear nurse, i. e. the island of
Delos (Κύνθιος αἰνήσῃ με φίλης ἀλέγοντα τιθήνης),[209] and many other
examples. The dinner table is styled the nurse of life (βίου
τιθήνη).[210] The dove keeping the snake from her brood is an
all-attentive nurse:

(δράκοντες ὥς τις τέκνων
ὑπερδέδοικεν λεχαίων δυσευνάτορας
πάντροφος πελειάς.)[211]

The fountains are called the nurses of Bacchus, because the water being
mingled with the wine increased the quantity of the wine.[212]

Thus we find that in the performance of her fourfold office towards
child, grown daughter, grown son, and household, the nurse exhibited a
tender devotion towards the family in which she lived and especially
towards the members of it who had been the former objects of her care.

CHAPTER IV
NURSERY TALES AND LULLABIES

The importance of the nurse in Greek life may be judged from the fact
that to her as well as to the mother was entrusted the early education
of the child. Quintilian quoting Chrysippus, whose treatise on Greek
education has unfortunately been lost, says: “Those advise better who
like Chrysippus think that no part of a child’s life should be exempt
from education. For Chrysippus, though he has allowed three years to the
nurses, yet is of the opinion that the minds of children may be imbued
with excellent instruction even by them.”[213] The same author wishes
nurses to be women of some knowledge. At any rate, they should be the
best circumstances allow.[214] If we can judge from Republic, 343 _a_,
the nurse taught the children to distinguish between ordinary words:
εἰπέ μοι, ἔφη, ὦ Σώκρατες, τίτθη σοι ἔστιν;... ὅτι τοί σε, ἔφη,
κορυζῶντα περιορᾷ καὶ οὐκ ἀπομύττει δεόμενον, ὅς γε αὐτῇ οὐδὲ πρόβατα
οὐδὲ ποιμένα γιγνώσκεις.

The first lessons of the nurse were imparted by means of stories and
songs, when children were not of an age to learn gymnastic. Of this
Plato makes mention in the following passage: οὐ μανθάνεις, ἦν δ’ ἐγώ,
ὅτι πρῶτον τοῖς παιδίοις μύθοις λεγόμενον; τοῦτο δέ που ὡς τὸ ὅλον
εἰπεῖν ψεῦδος, ἔνι δὲ καὶ ἀληθῆ. πρότερον δὲ μύθοις πρὸς τὰ παιδία ἢ
γυμνασίοις χρώμεθα.[215] Furthermore, he would have mothers and nurses
mould the minds of the children by means of these tales: πείσομεν τὰς
τροφούς τε καὶ μητέρας πλάττειν τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν τοῖς μύθοις πόλυ μᾶλλον
ἢ τὰ σώματα ταῖς χερσίν.[216]

In ancient literature, however, we find only isolated traces of nursery
tales which may perhaps be accounted for by the contempt with which the
Greeks regarded this form of literature, an inference drawn from
Socrates’ answer to Hippias: σοι χαίρουσιν οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, ἅτε πολλὰ
εἰδότι· καὶ χρῶνται ὥσπερ ταῖς πρεσβύτισιν οἱ παῖδες πρὸς τὸ ἡδέως
μυθολογῆσαι.[217] More emphatic is his answer to Gorgias: τάχα δ’ οὖν
ταῦτα μῦθος σοι δοκεῖ λέγεσθαι, ὥσπερ γραός· καὶ καταφρονεῖς αὐτῶν.[218]
In a similar strain writes Lucian: ἔτι σοι γραῶν μῦθοι τὰ λεγόμενα
ἐστι.[219] Disconnected as are the allusion to nursery tales and
notwithstanding the contempt in which they were held, we have sufficient
evidence to prove their existence and suggest their character.

Nurses had many ways of acting on the imaginations of their young
charges in order to secure their obedience, to quiet them or put them in
good humor. The choice of the tales depended on the nurse and on the
intelligence of the children whom they nursed διὰ μυθολογίας,[220] and
quieted again by tales after they had beaten them: καθάπερ αἱ τίτθαι τὰ
παιδία, ἐπειδὰν αὐτοῖς πληγὰς ἐμβάλωσι παραμυθούμεναι καὶ χαριζόμεναι
μῦθον αὐτοῖς ὕστερον διηγήσαντο.[221] This recounting of tales is also
mentioned by Philostratus: καὶ καταμυθολόγει με ἡ τίτθη χαριέντως.[222]

As a substitute for the sandal, which according to Lucian[223] was
energetically applied, they sometimes told the children stories of an
awe-inspiring character. The time-honored bogey was always in
requisition to frighten them into good behavior, while there were tales
of a pleasing character for the good children. These two classes of
tales which we may designate as protreptic and apotropaic are clearly
defined by Strabo in the following passage: τοῖς τε γὰρ παισὶ
προσφέρομεν τοὺς ἡδεῖς μύθους εἰς προτροπὴν εἰς ἀποτροπὴν δὲ τοὺς
φοβερούς.[224]

We shall first consider the apotropaic tales, or bogeys. Of these, the
most frequently mentioned is Lamia who is so intimately connected with
the domain of fable that Plutarch called Demetrius Μῦθος because the
name of his mistress was Lamia: Δημοχάρης δὲ ὁ Σόλιος τὸν Δημήτριον
ἐκάλει Μῦθον· εἶναι γὰρ αὐτῷ καὶ Λαμίαν (Λάμιαν).[225]

From Diodorus we learn that she was of Libya: τίς τοὔνομα ἐπονείδιστον
βροτοῖς οὐκ οἶδε Λαμίας τῆς Λιβυστικῆς γένος.[226] The Scholiast on
Aristophanes, Peace, 758, says that she was a Libyan woman with whom
Zeus consorted, not without the knowledge of Hera, who being jealous,
destroyed Lamia’s children. When they were killed and she was
overburdened, Lamia killed the children of others.[227] Therefore,
nurses called Lamia to them to frighten children. And the story is told
how she by the counsel of Hera passed her life sleepless, so that day
and night she was in continual pain, until Zeus taking pity on her made
her eyes removable.[228] Plutarch thus speaks of her in De Curiositate:
νῦν δὲ ὥσπερ ἐν τῷ μύθῳ τὴν Λάμιαν λέγουσιν· οἴκοι μὲν ᾄδειν τυφλήν, ἐν
ἀγγείῳ τινι τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἔχουσαν ἀποκειμένους ἔξω δὲ προιοῦσαν
ἐπιτίθεσθαι καὶ βλέπειν. Her singing would attract children to her abode
but they had a chance to escape when her eyes were ἐν ἀγγείῳ.[229]

The fear which children had for the Lamia is referred to by Lucian in a
passage where he is speaking of the stories told to children: μυθίδια
παίδων ψυχὰς κηλεῖν δυνάμενα ἔτι τὴν Μορμὼ καὶ τὴν Λάμιαν δεδιότων.[230]
She was said to devour children alive. Whence Horace: “Neu pransae Lamia
vivum puerum extrabat alvo.”[231] Philostratus represents her as a
monster, possessing the blood-sucking reputation of the vampire.[232]
Dionysius of Halicarnassus mentions her in a passage in which he is
treating of the fables of earlier historians: Λαμίας τινὰς ἱστοροῦντες
ἐν ὕλαις καὶ νάπαις ἐκ γῆς ἀνιεμένας, καὶ ναΐδας ἀμφιβίους ἐκ ταρτάρων
ἐξιούσας καὶ διὰ πελάγους νηχομένας καὶ μιξόθερας, καὶ ταύτας εἰς
ὁμιλίαν ἀνθρώποις συνερχομένας.[233]

Lamia plays an important part in modern Greek nursery tales, where she
is portrayed as a monster, hideous and deformed, hungry for human flesh,
partaking of the nature of the Harpy, the Gorgon, and the Empusa.[234]
Belief in her is so common in Greece that Wachsmuth says when a child
dies suddenly they say: τὸ παιδὶ τὸ ἔπνιξε ἡ Λάμια.[235]

With Lamia, Strabo groups: Γοργὼ καὶ ὁ Ἐφιάλτης καὶ ἡ Μορμολύκη.[236]
That the hideous aspect of the Gorgon was used as a bugbear, may be
gathered from Aristophanes, Acharnians, 582, where Lammachus is bidden
to take away his shield which has the Gorgon for a device: ἀπένεγκε μου
τὴν μορμόνα. As if the speaker said: “Take away the representation of
the Gorgon which strikes terror into me, as μορμώ does into children.”
Mormolyke is called the nurse of Acheron, husband of Gorgyce by
Sophron.[237] The significance of the name is derived from μορμολύκεια,
the general term for “bogey” of which Plato, speaking of the fear of
death, says: μὴ δεδιέναι τὸν θάνατον, ὥσπερ τὰ μορμολύκεια.[238]

To the apotropaic nursery tales belong also the stories of Acco and
Alphito which are classed together by Plutarch: τῆς Ἀκκοῦς καὶ τῆς
Ἀλφιτοῦς δ’ ὦν τὰ παιδάρια τοῦ κακοσχολεῖν αἱ γυναῖκες ἀνείργουσιν.[239]
According to Hesychius the word Acco is etymologically connected with
ἀσκός and ἀκκόρ, so that by Acco was originally meant a bugbear which
carried off naughty children in a bag. In a similar manner Alphito, from
ἄλφιτα is explained.

Another favorite of the nurses was Gello: δαίμων ἣν γυναῖκες τὰ νεογνὰ
παιδία φασὶν ἁρπάζειν. (Hesychius.) Zenobius, iii, 3, explaining the
proverb, Γελλὼ παιδοφιλωτέρα, says of her: Γελλὼ γάρ τις ἦν παρθένος,
καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἀώρως ἐτελεύτησε, φασὶν οἱ Λέσβιοι αὐτῆς τὸ φάντασμα
ἐπιφοιτᾶν ἐπὶ τὰ παιδία, καὶ τοὺς τῶν ἀώρων θανάτους αὐτῇ ἀνατιθέασι.
Μέμνηται ταύτης Σαπφώ.[240] Hesychius also styles her εἴδωλον Ἐμπούσης.
The Empusa here referred to is placed in the same category with Lamia
and Mormolyke: ἡ χρηστὴ νύμφη μία τῶν Ἐμπουσῶν ἐστιν, ἃς Λαμίας τε καὶ
μορμολοκίας οἱ πολλοὶ ἡγοῦνται.[241] She possessed the property of
assuming any form she pleased: “For they were travelling by a bright
moonlight when the figure of an empusa or hobgoblin appeared to them
that changed from one form into another until finally it vanished into
nothing.”[242] According to the Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, iii,
860, Hecate often sends out ghosts, the so-called Ἑκαταῖρα and often
changes her form, wherefore she is called Empusa. Aeschines’ mother
acquired the nickname Empusa ἐκ τοῦ πάντα ποιεῖν,[243] according to the
Scholiast πάντα τὰ αἰσχρὰ καὶ ἀνόσια.

Another bogey was the Strigla, the Roman Strix (Mod. Greek στρίγλαις),
of which mention is made in a fragment of an ancient nursery song:

Στρίγγ’ ἀποπομπεῖν νυκτιβόαν, στρίγγ’ ἀπὸ λαῶν,
ὄρνιν ἀνωνυμίαν ὠκυπόρους ἐπὶ νῆας.[244]

The wolf had also its place in this literature, since its name was used
in the same manner as the bugbears mentioned above:

Ἄγροικος ἠπείλησε νηπίῳ τίτθη
κλαίοντι ‘Παῦσι· μή σε τῷ λύκῳ ῥίψω.’[245]

A good example of the way in which children were frightened by these
bogeys is given in Theocritus, where Praxinoe who wants to go out to the
Adonis festival says to the child who runs after her crying:

οὐκ ἄξω τυ, τέκνον· Μορμώ, δάκνει ἵππος·
δάκρυε, ὅσσα θέλεις· χωλὸν δ’ οὐ δεῖ σε γένεσθαι.[246]

Another instance is given by Callimachus in the Hymn to Artemis, where
he tells that when a mother in Olympus cannot get her daughter to obey
her, she calls one of the Cyclopes, and the indefatigable Hermes appears
immediately with his face smeared with soot to personate the Cyclops.
Then the child hastens in fright to her mother and puts her head on her
bosom:

ἀλλ’ ὅτε κουράων τις ἀπειθέα μητέρι τεύχε,
μήτηρ μὲν Κύκλωπας ἑῇ ἐπὶ παιδὶ καλιστρεῖ,
Ἄργην, ἢ Στερόπην· ὁ δὲ δώματος ἐκ μυχάτοιο,
ἔρχεται Ἑρμείης σποδίῃ κεχρημένος αἴθῃ.
αὐτίκα τὴν κούρην μορμύσσεται.[247]

The Scholion on this passage says: καταπληκτικὰ φοβερά. ἐκ μεταφορᾶς τῆς
μορμοῦς τὰ βρέφη φοβούσης.[248] The μορμώ here spoken of was a woman of
horrible and monstrous aspect which Hesychius calls τὸ φόβητρον τοῖς
παιδίοις. Xenophon likens the fear of the allies to that which young
children have for μορμώ: οἱ μὲν Λακεδαιμόνιοι ἐπισκώπτειν ἐτόλμων ὡς οἱ
σύμμαχοι φοβοῖντο τοὺς πελταστὰς, ὥσπερ μορμόνας παιδάρια.[249]
Aristophanes also makes use of this word:

οὐδὲν δέομεθ’, ὦνθρωπε, τῆς σῆς μόρμονος.[250]
ὀφρῦς ἔχοντα καὶ λόφους, δείν’ ἄττα μορμορωπὰ.[251]
ὡς δὴ καταπιόμενός με. μορμὼ τοῦ θράσους.[252]

Such were the tales told by nurses to frighten children into good
behavior. We cannot but think that these stories, although they secured
obedience for the time being, must have had a deleterious effect on the
children. This view is substantiated by a passage of Lucian: “If you do
not want to fill these boys’ heads with ghosts and hobgoblins, postpone
your grotesque horrors for a more suitable occasion. Have some mercy on
the lads: do not accustom them to listen to a tangle of superstitious
stuff that will cling to them for the rest of their lives and make them
start at their own shadow.”[253]

What the children naturally preferred to these threats were the stories
told to put them to sleep or to amuse them—the protreptic tales. The
nurses had a store of such tales, and γραῶν or τιτθῶν μῦθοι have grown
into a proverb.[254]

The subject matter of these tales was the actions of the gods and heroes
of mythology: γεγονὼς αὐτὸς ἐκ Διός τε καὶ τῆς τοῦ δήμου ἀρχηγέτου
θυγατρός· ἅπερ αἱ γραῖαι ᾄδουσι.[255] Hence the telling of them might
have the greatest influence on the moral education of the children.
Plato, therefore, enlarges on the care to be taken in their selection,
so that the children might not receive immoral impressions and false
ideas: ἆρ’ οὖν ῥᾳδίως οὕτω παρήσομεν τοὺς ἐπιτυχόντας ὑπὸ τῶν
ἐπιτυχόντων μύθους πλασθέντας ἀκούειν τοὺς παῖδας καὶ λαμβάνειν ἐν ταῖς
ψυχαῖς ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ ἐναντίας δόξας ἐκείναις, ἄς ἐπειδὰν τελεωθῶσιν,
ἔχειν οἰησόμεθα δεῖν αὐτούς;[256] He therefore establishes a censorship
of the writers of fiction, and rejects even Hesiod and Homer: πρῶτον δὴ
ἡμῖν, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἐπιστατητέον τοῖς μυθοποιοῖς, καὶ ὃν μὲν ἂν καλὸν
ποιήσωσιν, ἐγκριτέον, ὃν δ’ ἂν μή, ἀποκριτέον. τοὺς δ’ ἐγκριθέντας
πείσομεν τὰς τροφούς τε καὶ μητέρας λέγειν τοῖς παισί.[257] As a matter
of fact, all sins that men could commit were imputed to the gods by
these poets.[258]

The story of Zeus who thrust his father from the throne would teach
children disloyalty to parents,[259] while his amorous connections with
goddesses and mortals could not but have a pernicious effect on young
minds. Plutarch thinks nurses should be restrained in the selection of
these tales: μὴ τοὺς τυχόντας μύθους τοῖς παιδίοις λέγειν, ἵνα μὴ τὰς
τούτων ψυχὰς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἀνοίας καὶ διαφθορᾶς ἀναπίμπλασθαι συμβαίνῃ,[260]
and Aristotle wishes to place these matters under the supervision of the
Paedonomoi: καὶ περὶ λόγων τε καὶ μύθων ποίους τινὰς ἀκούειν δεῖ τοὺς
τηλικούτους ἐπιμελὲς ἔστω τοῖς ἄρχουσιν, οὓς καλοῦσι παιδονόμους.[261]

On the other hand, ancient mythology is so full of humor and imagination
and so rich in amusing adventures, that many of these same stories might
do excellent service to-day as nursery tales. For example, the story of
the inventiveness of Hermes even in his cradle, the adventures of
Odysseus, the labors of Hercules, and many others would furnish
enjoyment to many a child.[262]

Philostratus records that nurses made use of the tale of Theseus and
Ariadne: ὅτι τὴν Ἀριάδνην ὁ Θησεὺς ἄδικα δρῶν κατέλιπεν ἐν Δίᾳ τῇ νήσῳ
καθεύδουσα τάχαν, του καὶ τίτθης διάκησας, σοφαὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖναι τὰ τοιαῦτα
καὶ δακρύουσεν ἐπ’ αὐτοῖς ὅταν ἐθελωσιν.[263]

The magic rings which Timolous wishes for in Lucian, seem to have been
borrowed from a nursery tale,[264] and the story of the ring of Gyges,
which rendered its wearer invisible, contains elements of the nursery
tale.[265] Stories told for comfort and consolation are alluded to by
Euripides, where Amphitryon counsels Megara to tell tales to the
children disturbed over their father’s absence:

ἀλλ’ ἡσύχαζε καὶ δακρυρρόους τέκνων
πηγὰς ἀφαίρει καὶ παρευκήλαι λόγοις,
κλέπτουσα μύθοις ἀθλίνους κλοπὰς ὅμως.[266]

At the festival of the Oschophoria, the telling of old fables and tales
to children was part of the ritual.[267]

The style characteristic of modern nursery tales was in vogue in
classical times, as we learn from Aristophanes where the first words of
a tale correspond to our well-known “Once upon a time.”

οὕτω ποτ’ ἦν μῦς καὶ γαλῆ.[268]

The Scholiast commenting on this line says: πρὸς τὴν συνήθειαν, ὅτι τὸν
μῦθον προέταττον οὕτως, οἷον, ἦν οὕτω γέρων καὶ γραῦς. καὶ Πλάτων ἐν
Φαίδρῳ (237 B) ἦν οὕτω δὴ παῖς μᾶλλον δὲ μειρακίσκος· τούτῳ δ’ ἦσαν
ἐράσται πάνυ πολλοί. There is another instance in Lysistrata, where the
semi-choruses, telling each other a little nursery tale begin:

οὕτως ἦν πότε ......
οὕτω ........[269]

The purpose of all these tales is training to virtue, and is well
expressed by the Scholiast on Hermogenes, Progymnasmata, i.e.: τὸν μῦθον
ἀξιοῦσι προσάγειν τοῖς νεοῖς ὅτι τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον
ῥυθμίζειν δύναται.

We conclude that there was at Athens a store of popular tales for the
amusement of children, many of which were attributed to Aesop whom
Herodotus calls λογοποιός.[270] The word λογοποιός seems to indicate
that a prose version of his fables may have circulated in Athens in the
time of Socrates.[271] What is certain, however, is that these tales
were very much enjoyed and that Socrates himself versified some of
them.[272] The so-called Aesopic tales began “Aesop said.”[273] Other
tales were classified as Libyan, Cyprian and Sybaritic, distinguishable
by the opening words: “A man (or a woman) of Sybaris (or of Libya or of
Cypris) said.”[274] A further distinction between the fables of Aesop
and those of Sybaris is that the latter were political and about men;
the former, ethical and about animals.[275] A Λιβυκὸς μῦθος is mentioned
by Dion Chrysostom employed to calm children after they had been
chastised.[276]

LULLABIES

Allied to the nursery tales are the lullabies of the nurses “aussi vieux
que le monde et qui dureront autant que lui,”[277] which Athenaeus calls
καταβαυκαλήσεις: αἱ δὲ τῶν τιτθενουσῶν ᾠδαὶ καταβαυκαλήσεις
ὀνομάζονται.[278] They are also called βαυκαλήματα[279] from βαυκαλάω
“to lull to sleep” onomatopoetically formed from the nurse’s song. Plato
refers to them in the Laws where he says that when mothers and nurses
are desirous to put their children to sleep, they do not bring them to a
state of quiet, but on the contrary of motion, καὶ οὐ σιγήν, ἀλλά τινα
μελῳδίαν.[280]

The following passage from Aristotle seems to indicate that they were
simple melodies without words, sung to a certain rhythm: διὰ τί ῥυθμῷ
καὶ μέλει καὶ ὅλως ταῖς συμφωνίαις χαίρουσι πάντες; ἢ ὅτι ταῖς κατὰ
φύσιν κινήσεσι χαίρομεν κατὰ φύσιν; σημεῖον δὲ τὸ τὰ παιδία εὐθὺς
γεγόμενα χαίρειν αὐτοῖς.[281]

Chrysippus assigns a peculiar tune for the lullabies of nurses.[282]
Sextus Empiricus very appropriately styles them a metrical humming
(ἐμμέλης μινύρισμα).[283] It is probable also that to these melodies,
the nurses adapted improvised words, as we do. This view is borne out by
the fact that certain specimens exist which are imitations or
elaborations of those really in use at the time they were written. The
Lullaby of Alcmena in Theocritus is an instance:

εὕδετ’ ἐμὰ βρέφεα γλυκερὸν καὶ ἐγέρσιμον ὕπνον·
εὕδετ’ ἐμὰ ψυχὰ, δύ’ ἀδελφεὼ, εὔσοα τέκνα·
ὄλβιοι εὐνάζοισθε, καὶ ὄλβιοι ᾀῶ ἵκεσθαι.[284]

The melody of these lines is beautiful; the crooning sound of the open
vowels in the first two, the rounded refrain of the last, with its
repeated ὄλβιοι and rhyming halves give it all the characteristics of a
lullaby.[285]

Not less beautiful are Simonides’ lines in the fragment called “The
Lament of Danae.” While tossed about by the waves, she sings her child
to sleep with these words:

κέλομαι εὗδε βρέφος, εὑδέτω, δὲ πόντος,
εὑδέτω δ’ ἀμέτερον κακόν.
μεταβολία δὲ τὶς φανείῃ Ζεῦ πάτερ, ἐκ σέο.
ὅττι δέ θαρσαλέον ἔπος
εὔχομαι καὶ νόσφι δίκας, συγγνωθί μοι.[286]

The spirit of rest which pervades the song of the chorus to the
sorely-suffering Philoctetes suggests the lullaby:

ὕπν’ ὀδύνας ἀδαὴς, ὕπνε δ’ ἀλγέων,
εὐαδὲς ἡμῖν ἔλθοις,
εὐαίων, εὐαίων, ὦναξ·
ὄμμασι δ’ ἀντίσχοις
τὰν δ’ αἴγλαν, ἃ τέταται τὰ νῦν.[287]

Finally, we have another recollection of the nurse’s song in Orestes:

πότνια, πότνια νύξ,
ὑπνοδότειρα τῶν πολυτόνων βροτῶν,
ἐρεβόθεν ἴθι, μόλε μόλε κατάπτερος
τὸν Ἀγαμεμνόνιον ἐπὶ δόμον.
ὑπὸ γὰρ ἀλγέων ὑπό τε συμφορᾶς
δ’ διοιχόμεθ’, οἰχόμεθα. κτύπον ἠγάγετ’· οὐχὶ σῖγα
σῖγα φυλασσομένα στόματος
ἄνα κέλαδον ἀπὸ λέχεος ἥ-
συχον ὕπνου χάριν παρέξεις, φίλα;[288]

These are but the traces of a class of songs, which without doubt were
employed by the Greek mothers and nurses to lull the children to sleep.
From the very nature of these songs, it is highly improbable that any
lullaby should survive in the literature.

CHAPTER V
MONUMENTS TO THE NURSE

The relations between nurse and master were of that sacred character
which cease not with death. Her sincere and tender affection was not
only repaid during life by the master’s solicitude for her well-being;
but after death her memory was frequently perpetuated by the erection of
monuments.

The unearthing of many of these has proved a fertile source of
information concerning the nurse. Her name, sometimes her parentage, and
even details of her life and virtues find expression in the sepulchral
inscriptions.

The commonest form of grave-stone erected to the memory of the nurse is
the “Stele”, a horizontal grave-relief more or less ornamented, and
usually representing the nurse seated, bidding farewell to her master or
mistress. Conze in his _Die attischen Grabreliefs_ describes several of
these.

The nurse Melitta, daughter of Apollodorus, the metic, is honored by a
monument erected by her master, Hippostrates, who is also represented on
the relief. Beneath is the following inscription:

Ἐνθάδε τὴν χρηστὴν τίτθην κατὰ γαῖαν καλύπτει
Ἱπποστράτης· καὶ νῦν ποθεῖ σε.
καὶ ζῶσάν σ’ ἐφίλουν, τίτθη, καὶ νῦν σ’ ἔτι τιμῶ
οὖσαν καὶ κατὰ γῆς, καὶ τιμήσω σε ἄχρι ἂν ζῶ·
οἶδα δὲ σοι ὅτι καὶ κατὰ γῆς, εἴπερ χρηστοῖς γέρας ἐστίν,
πρώτει σοι τιμαί, τίτθη, παρὰ Φερσεφόνει
Πλούτονί τε κεῖνται.[289]

This inscription bears witness to the virtues of the nurse and the fond
relations which must have existed between her and her master, for having
loved her during life, he yearns for her when she is no more, and
promises to honor her as long as he lives, thus uniting with those great
honors which must necessarily be paid her in Hades, if there be there
any honor paid the good.

The “Stele” of Malicha of Cytherea, the Spartan nurse of the children of
Diogeitus, is engraved with an inscription bearing witness to her
goodness:

Ἐνθάδε γῆ κατέχει τίτθην παίδων
Διογείτου ἐκ Πελοποννήσου τήνδε δικαιοτάτην
Μαλίχα Κυθηρία.[290]

The epithet χρηστή so often seen on the monuments finds place on those
of nurses. Thus the combination τίτθη χρηστή,[291] to which is sometimes
added the name of the nurse, occurs: Παίδευσις τίτθη χρηστή,[292]
Πυῤῥίχη τροφὸς χρηστή.[293] Sometimes the name of the nurse and the word
τίτθη are found, as Δημητρίᾳ τίτθῃ,[294] Χοιρίνη τίτθη,[295] Φιλύρα
τίτθη,[296] and there are instances where the simple word τίτθη or
τείτθη occurs.[297] Then too, the name of the nurse’s country is
sometimes mentioned in the inscription: Φάνιον Κορινθία τίτθη[298] and
also that of her nursling: Ῥωξάνη Ζωπύρου Ἁλειέως τίτθη.[299] Βιότη
Λύσωνος Ἁμαξαντέως τροφός.[300] In these inscriptions τροφός is less
frequently used for “nurse” than τίτθη.

Besides the monuments erected especially to nurses, we often find the
nurse shown on the grave-relief of a mother in the act of handing the
child to her for the last farewell,[301] or holding in her arms a young
child enveloped in swaddling clothes.[302] The representation of the
nurse in this connection is quite in keeping with her relations towards
the family during the sad hours which preceded the burial. While the
immediate members of the family were considered as the chief mourners,
they did not look upon it as a condescension to allow the sympathetic
heart of the nurse to unite its share of grief with theirs.[303]

In addition to the sepulchral inscriptions mentioned above, we have
literary evidence of the existence of other monuments in honor of
nurses. Theocritus furnishes the following:

ὁ μικκὸς τόδ’ ἔτευξε τᾲ Θραΐσσᾳ,
Μήδειος τὸ μνᾶμ’ ἐπὶ τᾷ ὁδῷ κηπέγραψε Κλείτας
ἕξει τὰν χάριν ἁ γυνὰ ἀντὶ τήνων
ὧν τὸν κοῦρον ἔθρεψε. τί μάν; ἔτι χρησίμα καλεῖται.[304]

The use of χρησίμα in the last line is in accordance with the custom
referred to before.[305]

Less complimentary to the nurse is the following selection from the
Anthology, ascribed to Dioscuridus:

Τὴν τίτθην Ἱέρων Σειληνίδα, τὴν, ὅτι πίνοι
Ζωρὸν, ὑπ’ οὐδεμιῆς θλιβουμένην κύλικος,
Ἀγρῶν ἐντὸς ἔθηκεν, ἵν’ ἡ φιλάκρητος ἐκείνη
Καὶ φθιμένη, ληνῶν γείτονα τύμβον ἔχη.[306]

The unfortunate weakness of this nurse was made a subject of jest with
the comic poets.[307]

But more in keeping with the true character of the nurse is Callimachus’
epigram, wherein he commemorates the goodness of the Phrygian nurse
Aeschra, to whose memory her master set up her statue in token of
gratitude for her nurture:

Τὴν Φρυγίην Αἴσχρην, ἀγαθὸν γάλα, πᾶσιν ἐν ἐσθλοῖς
Μίκκος καὶ ζωὴν οὖσαν ἐγηροκόμει,
Καὶ φθιμένην ἀνέθηκεν, ἐπ’ ἐσσομένοισιν ὁρᾶσθαι,
Ἡ γρῆυς μαστῶν ὡς ἀπέχει χάριτας.[308]

Thus from the study of the inscriptions, as well as from the literature,
we learn that the Greeks had for those devoted women who stood to them
in place of mother, a tender attachment which often continued all
through life; and even after the nurse’s death they sought to give some
expression to it by writing epitaphs and erecting monuments to their
memory.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. TEXTS OF SOURCES

AELIAN: Varia Historia, ed. Hercher. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1866.

AESCHINES: Orationes, ed. Blass. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1896.

AESCHYLUS: Tragoediæ, ed. Weil. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1898.

AESOP: Fabulæ, ed. Halm. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1901.

ANTHOLOGIA GRAECA, ed. Bosch. 1795–1822.

ANALECTA VETERUM POETARUM GRÆCORUM, ed. Brunck, 1776.

APOLLONIUS RHODIUS: Argonautica, ed. Seaton. London, 1912.

ARISTOTLE: Opera, ed. Didot. Paris, 1848.

ATHENAEUS: Deipnosophistæ, ed. Kaibel. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1890.

BERGK: Poetæ Lyrici Græci, Lipsiæ, 1878–1882.

BLAYDES: Aristophanes, Halis, 1883.

CALLIMACHUS, Hymni, ed. Blomfield. London, 1815.

CICERO: De Officiis, ed. Holden. Cambridge, 1899.

CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM ATTICARUM, ed. Boeckh, 1875–1882.

DEMOSTHENES: Orationes, ed. Blass. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1901.

DIODORUS SICULUS: Bibliotheca Historica, ed. Vogel. Lipsiæ: Teubner,
1888.

DION CHRYSOSTOM: Orationes, ed. Dindorf. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1857.

DIONYSIUS OF HALICARNASSUS: Antiquitatum Romanorum, ed. Jacoby. Lipsiæ:
Teubner, 1885.

DIONYSIUS PERIGETES, ed. Wells. Oxford, 1704.

EPICTETUS: Dessertationes, ed. Didot. Paris, 1840.

EPIGRAMMATUM ANTHOLOGIA PALATINA, ed. Dübner. Paris, 1864.

ETYMOLOGICON MAGNUM, ed. Gaisford. Oxford, 1848.

EURIPIDES, ed. Murray. Oxford, 1901–1909.

GALEN, De Temperamentis, ed. Helmreich. Lipsiæ, 1904.

GEOPONICA, ed. Beckh. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1895.

HERMOGENES: Progymnasmata, ed. Rabe. Lipsiæ; Teubner, 1913.

HERODOTUS: Historia, ed. Kallenberg. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1901.

HESIOD: Carmina, ed. Reach. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1902.

HESYCHIUS: Lexicon. Jenæ, 1858–1863.

HOMER: Iliad, ed. Monroe. Oxford, 1903–1906. Odyssey, ed. Merry.
Oxford, 1899–1907.

HOMERIC HYMNS, ed. Allen and Sikes. London, 1904.

HORACE: Carmina, ed. Müller. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1893.

KABBADIA: Γλυπτὰ τοῦ Ἐθνικοῦ Μουσείου, Athens, 1890–1892.

LUCIAN: Opera, ed. Didot. Paris, 1840.

LYCOPHRON: Alexandra, ed. Kinkel. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1880.

LYSIAS: Orationes, ed. Thalheim. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1901.

MAXIMUS TYRIUS: Dissertationes, ed. Dübner. Paris, 1840.

MEINEKE: Fragmenta Comicorum Græcorum. Berlin, 1836–1857.

OPPIAN: Halieutica, ed. Schneider. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1813.

PAROEMIOGRAPHI GRÆCI, ed. Gaisford. Oxford, 1836.

PAUSANIUS: Descriptio Græciæ, ed. Schubart. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1889.

PINDAR: Carmina, ed. Schneidewin. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1865.

PHILOSTRATUS: Life of Apollonius of Tyana, ed. Loeb. London, 1912.

PLATO: Dialogi, ed. Wohlrab. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1908.

PLAUTUS: Comoediæ. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1894–1901.

PLUTARCH: Vitæ, ed. Sentenis. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1908–1912.
Scripta Moralia, ed. Didot. Paris, 1841.

POLLUX: Onomasticon, ed. Dindorf. Lipsiæ, 1824.

QUINTILIAN: Institiones Oratoriæ, ed. Bonnell. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1896.

SEXTUS EMPIRICUS: Opera, ed. Mutschmann. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1914.

SOPHOCLES: Tragoediæ et Fragmenta, ed. Didot. Paris, 1846.

SORANUS: Gynæcia, ed. Rose. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1895.

STRABO: Geographia, ed. Meineke. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1895.

STOBAEUS: Floreligium, ed. Gaisford. Oxford, 1822.

SUIDAS: Lexicon, ed. Becker. Berlin, 1854.

TERENTIUS: Comoediæ, ed. Fleckeisen. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1898.

THEOCRITUS: Opera, ed. Ludolph. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1856.

THEOPHRASTUS: Characteres, ed. Didot. Paris, 1849.

VARRO: De Lingua Latina, ed. Spengel. Berlin, 1885.

VITRUVIUS: De Architectura, ed. Rose. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1899.

XENOPHON: Opera, ed. Didot. Paris, 1858.

ZENOBIUS: ed. Gaisford. Oxford, 1836.

II. SECONDARY AUTHORITIES

BAUMEISTER, Denkmäler des klassischen Altertums. München, 1885–1888.

BECKER, W. A. Charicles, Leipzig, 1840.

BLÜMMER, H. Leben und Sitten der Griechen. Leipzig, 1887.

BRUGES, Greek Anthology. London, 1893.

BRUGMANN, Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik. Strassburg,
1886–1892.

BUCHHOLZ, E. Die Homerischen Realien. Leipzig, 1881.

CAPPS, E. Four Plays of Menander. Boston, 1910.

CHOLMELEY, Theocritus. London, 1901.

CLAUDE, J. J. Diatribe de Nutricibus et Paedagogis. Ultrajecti
apud Johannem Visch, 1752.

CONZE, Die Attischen Grabreliefs. Berlin, 1893–1913.

CROISET, Histoire de la littérature grecque. Paris, 1901.

EUSTATHIUS, Commentarii in Odysseam. Leipzig, 1825.
Commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem. Leipzig, 1827–1828.

FRIEDLAENDER, L. Darstellung aus der Sittengeschichte Roms. 5th ed.,
Leipzig, 1881.

GELLIUS, A. Noctes Atticæ, ed. Gronovius. London, 1824.

KINGSLEY, C. Life and Works. London, 1901–1903.

LEGRAND, Daos. Lyon, 1910.

LENTZ, Herodiani technici reliquæ. Lipsiæ, 1867.

MUELLER, von I. Die griechischen Privataltertümer. Münich, 1893.

NEWMAN, Aristotle’s Politics. Oxford, 1902.

NOTAE VARIORUM IN ARISTOPHANEM, London, 1829.

OXYRHYNCHUS PAPYRI, Part VI., London, 1908.

PANOFKA, T. Manners and Customs of the Greeks. London, 1849.

ROSCHER, Lexicon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie. Leipzig,
1884–.

SEYMOUR, Life in the Homeric Age. New York, 1910.

SMYTHE, Greek Melic Poets. London, 1900.

STEPHANUS, Thesaurus. London, 1816–1826.

THIELS, G. “Die vorliterarische Fabel der Griechen.” In neue Jahrbücher
für klassisches Altertum. Lipsiæ: Teubner, 1908, xi, 393.

TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN PHILOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, Boston, 1913,
vol. 44.

VON HAHN, Griechische und albanische Märchen, Leipzig, 1864.

VERRALL, A. Collected Studies in Greek and Latin Scholarship.
Cambridge, 1913.

WACHSMUTH, Das alte Griechenland im neuen. Bonn, 1864.

WINCKELMANN, Monumenti inediti, 2d. ed., Rome, 1821.

VITA

The writer of this dissertation, Sister Mary Rosaria Gorman, was born in
Antigonish, Nova Scotia, June 21, 1880. She received her early education
in the Public Schools of that Province, and was graduated from St.
Patrick’s Girls’ High School, Halifax, N. S., in 1897. In 1912 she
obtained a Head Master’s License to teach in the Nova Scotia schools.
From 1902 to 1910, she was Assistant Teacher in St. Patrick’s Girls’
High School, Halifax. In 1907, she matriculated at the University of
London. From 1910 to 1913, she taught in the Academy of Mount Saint
Vincent, Halifax.

The years 1913–1914, 1914–1915, 1915–1916 have been spent in residence
at the Catholic Sisters College, Catholic University of America. The
degree Bachelor of Arts was received in 1914, that of Master of Arts in
1915. In her graduate work, the principal courses followed have been
those under J. B. O’Connor, Ph.D. and Reverend F. J. Coeln, Ph.D., to
both of whom it is the writer’s pleasure and honor to return thanks, but
especially to Dr. J. B. O’Connor for his valuable assistance and kind
encouragement in the preparation of this dissertation.

-----

Footnote 1:

Od. ii, 361; xix, 15, 21, 489; ii, 349, 372; xvii, 499; Il. vi, 389;
xxii, 503.

Footnote 2:

Hom. Hymn to Aphrod., 114; Dem., 103, 147, 227, 291.

Footnote 3:

Republic, 373C.

Footnote 4:

xlvii, 55, 56, 72.

Footnote 5:

H. A., vii, 12.

Footnote 6:

Athen., vi, 9.

Footnote 7:

Alc., 1, Lyc., 16.

Footnote 8:

Gynæcia, i, 87, 88.

Footnote 9:

Com. on Il., vi, p. 513.

Footnote 10:

Oppian, Halieutica. II, 404–5.

Footnote 11:

Brugmann, Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik, Strassburg, 1889,
ii, S. 92.

Footnote 12:

Lexicon, s. v. τροφοί.

Footnote 13:

Od., xxiii, 171. Cf. xxiii, 35, 81, 11; xix, 482, 500, etc.

Footnote 14:

Homeric Hymn Dem., 147.

Footnote 15:

Euripides, Hipp., 243.

Footnote 16:

Il., xxii, 82. Cf. also xvi, 203 and Od., xi, 448.

Footnote 17:

Od., xix, 482.

Footnote 18:

_Ibid._, xi, 448.

NOTE.—Seymour (Life in the Homeric Age, N. Y., 1914, p. 139), objects
to this on the ground that “nothing indicates that she (Eurycleia)
ever bore a child and could have served as a wet-nurse.” The words
εὐνῇ δ’ οὔ ποτ’ ἔμικτο (Od. I, 433) merely show that Eurycleia was not
the concubine of Laertes, and not that she was childless. Dolius, the
slave, had a wife and family in the household of Laertes (Od. xxiv,
389). Moreover, if the apportioning of awards mentioned in Od., xxi,
214 (ἄξομαι ἀμφοτέροις ἀλόχους) were a matter of custom, would not the
faithful Eurycleia have served as a very special prize? Cf. Buchholz,
Die Hom. Realien, Leipzig, 1881, vol. II, Pt. 2, p. 24.

Footnote 19:

Od., vii, 9.

Footnote 20:

_Ibid._, i, 430. Cf. also xv, 428.

Footnote 21:

Il., 389.

Footnote 22:

Od., xv, 427–444.

Footnote 23:

_Ibid._, xxii, 421.

Footnote 24:

_Ibid._, ii, 345.

Footnote 25:

_Ibid._, xxiii, 24.

Footnote 26:

Od., vii, 10.

Footnote 27:

_Ibid._, xx, 1–4.

Footnote 28:

Hom., Hymn to Dem., 141ff.

Footnote 29:

Hom., 166ff.

Footnote 30:

Hom., Hymn to Aphrod., 113ff.

Footnote 31:

Herodotus, vi, 61.

Footnote 32:

Euripides, Medea, 49.

Footnote 33:

Aeschylus, Cho., 750; Eur., Hipp., 698.

Footnote 34:

Eur., Hipp., 649.; And., 812.

Footnote 35:

_Ibid._, Med., 49.

Footnote 36:

_Ibid._, Med., 65: μή, πρὸς γενείου, κρύπτε σύνδουλον, σέθεν.

Footnote 37:

Hipp., 324.

Footnote 38:

Med., 54.

Footnote 39:

Troades, 195ff.

Footnote 40:

Dem., lvii, 42.

Footnote 41:

_Ibid._, lvii, 35.

Footnote 42:

_Ibid._, xlvii, 35ff.

Footnote 43:

Plato, Laws, 790A.

Footnote 44:

Samia, 21ff.

Footnote 45:

Capps, Four Plays of Menander, Boston, 1910, pp. 15, 239.

Footnote 46:

C. I. A., ii, 2729.

Footnote 47:

ἐλακωνομάνουν ἅπαντες ἄνθρωποι τότε.

Footnote 48:

Aristoph., Lys. 80–1. Cf. also Xen., Rep. Lac., I, 4.

Footnote 49:

Lyc., 16.

Footnote 50:

Alc., 1.

Footnote 51:

C. I. A., ii., 3111.

Footnote 52:

C. I. A., ii, 3097.

Footnote 53:

Epigram liv.

Footnote 54:

Theocritus, _Ibid._, ii, 70.

Footnote 55:

Theocritus, Epigram xx.

Footnote 56:

Pseudo-Plutarch, De Liberis Educandis, § 5.

Footnote 57:

_Ibid._

Footnote 58:

Apollonius Rhodius, iv, 1309–10.

Footnote 59:

Callimachus, Jove, 15. Cf. also Soranus, I, xxviii, 81. For the
practice of “dipping” the child, see Newman, “Politics of Aristotle,”
Oxford, 1902, vol. 3, p. 481ff.

Footnote 60:

Plutarch, Lyc., 26.

Footnote 61:

Baumeister, Denkmäler. Leipzig, 1885, vol. I, p. 4.

Footnote 62:

Olymp. I, 40–1.

Footnote 63:

Hom. H. to Mer., 151, 237, 306; Apollod., III., 10. 2; Plaut. Truc.
13, Amph. 52.

Footnote 64:

Conze, Die Attischen Grabreliefs. Berlin 1893–, 405, 302, 276, Taf.
lxiv, etc.

Footnote 65:

Hom. H. to Apollo, 121, 122.

Footnote 66:

Pind., Pyth., IV., 203: σπαργάνοις ἐν πορφυρέοις.

Footnote 67:

_Ibid._, Nem., I., 58.

Footnote 68:

Theog., 485.

Footnote 69:

Cf. Aeschy., Coeph., 529, 544; Eur., Ion, 32, 1351, 1598.

Footnote 70:

Aelian, Var. Hist., II, 7.

Footnote 71:

Plaut., Amphit., 1104.

Footnote 72:

Laws, 789E. In the third century A. D., the child was swaddled from
forty to sixty days. Cf. Soranus, Gynæcia, ed. Rose, for this and
other details of later usage.

Footnote 73:

Plut., _Op. Cit._

Footnote 74:

Eurip., Ion, 1420ff.

Footnote 75:

Il., xxii, 83; xvi, 203; Od., xi, 448; Soph., Ajax, 849: Lysis, De
Caed. Erat., 9.

Footnote 76:

Od., xix, 482; Dem., lvii, 42; Callim., Dem., 90, Ep. 54; Men., Sam.,
32.

Footnote 77:

Eur., Hipp., 698, Cf. also Aul. Gel., 12, 5.

Footnote 78:

Pseudo-Plut., De. Lib. Ed., § 5.

Footnote 79:

Athen., vi, 9.

Footnote 80:

Menech., 19–21.

Footnote 81:

Adelphi, 979.

Footnote 82:

Dem., _Op. Cit._

Footnote 83:

Geoponica, v. 13, 4.

Footnote 84:

Crito, 50D.

Footnote 85:

Laws, 887D.

Footnote 86:

Rep., 460D.

Footnote 87:

Hist. An., vii, 12.

Footnote 88:

Hist. An., vii, 10.

Footnote 89:

Pol., vii, 17.

Footnote 90:

De Somno., iii.

Footnote 91:

Orat., 4, 155R.

Footnote 92:

De Aere, Aquis, Locis., I, 542.

Footnote 93:

Athen., vi, 51.

Footnote 94:

Athen., xiii, 85. Cf. Arist., Pol., vii, 17.

Footnote 95:

Pindar, Olymp., vi, 45; Schol. Aristoph., Thesm., 506; Apoll., Rhod.,
iv., 1136; Callim., Jove, 40.

Footnote 96:

Athen., iii, 15.

Footnote 97:

Cf. also Aristophanes, Lysistrata, 18–19.

Footnote 98:

Aristotle, Rhet., iii, 4.

Footnote 99:

Adv. Math., ii, 42. Cf. also Theophr., Char., 20.

Footnote 100:

Aristoph., Knights, 716. Cf. also Plut., Rom., 2.

Footnote 101:

Athen., xii, 40.

Footnote 102:

Il., vi, 467.

Footnote 103:

_Ibid._, vi, 389, 400.

Footnote 104:

Il., xxii, 503ff.

Footnote 105:

Od., xix, 401.

Footnote 106:

Hom. H. to Dem., 141.

Footnote 107:

Herod., vi, 61.

Footnote 108:

Eur., Iph. in Taur., 835.

Footnote 109:

Eurip., Electra, 1125ff.

Footnote 110:

Athen., iv, 16.

Footnote 111:

Laws, 789E.

Footnote 112:

Plato, Timaeus, 52D.

Footnote 113:

Pol., vii, 17.

Footnote 114:

Laws, 789E.

Footnote 115:

Varro, Ling. Lat., ix, 5.

Footnote 116:

Cf. also Aristotle, Pol., vii, 17.

Footnote 117:

§ 5.

Footnote 118:

Plut., De Virtute, § 2.

Footnote 119:

Rep., 377C.

Footnote 120:

Galen, De Temperamentis, ii, 578.

Footnote 121:

Theoc., Idylls, xxiv., 10.

Footnote 122:

Panofka, T. Manners and Customs of the Greeks. London, 1849, Plate xi,
1.

Footnote 123:

Arist., Poetics, 16.

Footnote 124:

Plut., Rom., 3. Cf. also Eur., Ion, 1398.

Footnote 125:

Callimachus, Jove, 48.

Footnote 126:

Schol. on Cal., Jove, 48. Etym. Mag. s. v. λεῖκνον.

Footnote 127:

Hesychius, s. v. λικνίτης.

Footnote 128:

Winckelmann, Mon. Ined., Pl. 53.

Footnote 129:

Hom. H. to Hermes, 254.

Footnote 130:

Blümmer, H. Leben und Sitten der Griechen, Fig. 60.

Footnote 131:

Athen., xiii, 85.

Footnote 132:

Stobaeus, Flor., 98, 72.

Footnote 133:

Pollux, Onomasticon, ix, 27. Cf. Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Pt. vi, Lond.,
1908, 852, fr. 1.

Footnote 134:

Heydemann, Griechische Vasenbilder, Taf. 8.

Footnote 135:

Plut., Consol. ad. Ux., § 22.

Footnote 136:

Curculio, v, 2, 45.

Footnote 137:

Poen., 29–30.

Footnote 138:

Vitruvius, De Architectura, iv, 1, 9.

Footnote 139:

Aeschylus, Choe., 750ff.

Footnote 140:

Menander, Samia, 31–3. (Capps.)

Footnote 141:

Plato, Rep., 343A.

Footnote 142:

Plut., De Consol., § 6.

Footnote 143:

Aeschy., Ag., 723.

Footnote 144:

Eur., Orestes, 462ff.

Footnote 145:

Timarch., 139.

Footnote 146:

Plut., De disc. amico ab adul., § 28.

Footnote 147:

Epict., Diss., xix.

Footnote 148:

Soph., Phil., 704.

Footnote 149:

Laws, 792A.

Footnote 150:

Polit., vii., 17, 6.

Footnote 151:

§ 10.

Footnote 152:

Hom., Hymn to Dem., 227.

Footnote 153:

Plut., Symp., v, 7, 3.

Footnote 154:

Pliny, N. H., xxviii, 38.

Footnote 155:

Ep. i. ad Cor., Hom., 12, 7.

Footnote 156:

Quintilian, i, 1, 16.

Footnote 157:

Laws, 794C.

Footnote 158:

Lucian, Hermotim., 82.

Footnote 159:

Od., vii., 13.

Footnote 160:

Eur., Hipp., 698ff.

Footnote 161:

Bruges, Greek Anthology, London, 1893, cxxxii.

Footnote 162:

This tale was written by Callimachus in his Aetia. There is a prose
résumé by Aristaenetus, Bk. I, Ep. 10. Cf. Ovid., Ep. 21.

Footnote 163:

Ovid, Ep. 18.

Footnote 164:

Apollonius Rhodius, I, 667ff.

Footnote 165:

_Ibid._, I., 269ff.

Footnote 166:

Od., I., 427ff.

Footnote 167:

_Ibid._, xvii, 31ff.

Footnote 168:

_Ibid._, ii, 349ff.

Footnote 169:

_Ibid._, xx, 135.

Footnote 170:

_Ibid._, xix, 21ff.

Footnote 171:

_Ibid._, xix, 468.

Footnote 172:

_Ibid._, ii, 349, xix, 482.

Footnote 173:

Aeschylus, Choe., _l. c._

Footnote 174:

Demeter, 90.

Footnote 175:

Menander, Samia, _l. c._

Footnote 176:

Demosth., In Evergum, _l. c._

Footnote 177:

Cf. Chap. V.

Footnote 178:

Od., xv, 420.

Footnote 179:

Od., xx, 149.

Footnote 180:

_Ibid._, xxii, 420–5.

Footnote 181:

_Ibid._, ii, 345ff.

Footnote 182:

_Ibid._, ii, 349ff.

Footnote 183:

_Ibid._, ii, 352.

Footnote 184:

Hom., H. to Demeter, 103–4; 142–4.

Footnote 185:

Eur., Medea, 60.

Footnote 186:

_Ibid._, 90.

Footnote 187:

Menander, Samia, 40. (Capps.)

Footnote 188:

Od., I, 435.

Footnote 189:

Od., xix, 354.

Footnote 190:

_Ibid._, xix, 471.

Footnote 191:

vi., 61.

Footnote 192:

Frag. 42. (Bergk.)

Footnote 193:

Pyth., xi, 28.

Footnote 194:

Choe., 738–82.

Footnote 195:

Medea, 52.

Footnote 196:

Soph., Trach., 871ff.

Footnote 197:

Hipp., 698.

Footnote 198:

The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, pt. VI, Euripides, Hyps., fr. 60.

Footnote 199:

M., ii, 1965.

Footnote 200:

Samia, 40ff. St. Paul instances the nurse as the examplar of
gentleness; but “nurse” here is usually interpreted “mother.” Cf. I.
Thess., ii, 7. ὡς ἐὰν τροφὸς θάλῃ τὰ ἑαυτῆς τέκνα.

Footnote 201:

De Vitiosa Pudore, § 2.

Footnote 202:

Florelegium, 98, 72.

Footnote 203:

Knights, 717.

Footnote 204:

M., iv, 89.

Footnote 205:

Men., Samia, 90; Terence, Andria, 229. Cf. also Legrand, Daos, Lyon,
1910, p. 132.

Footnote 206:

Anthologia Graeca, ed. Bosch, 1795. L. 5, T. 1, E. 66.

Footnote 207:

Aesch., Seven against Thebes, 16.

Footnote 208:

Soph., O. R., 322.

Footnote 209:

Call., Delos, 10.

Footnote 210:

Athen., x, 83.

Footnote 211:

Aesch., Seven against Thebes, 291.

Footnote 212:

Athen., xi, 13.

Footnote 213:

Quintilian, I. 1, 16.

Footnote 214:

_Ibid._, I. 1, 4.

Footnote 215:

Plato, Rep., 377A.

Footnote 216:

Rep., 377C.

Footnote 217:

Plato, Hipp. Maj., 286A.

Footnote 218:

Gorgias, 527A. Cf. also Rep., 350E and Lysis, 205D.

Footnote 219:

Lucian, Philopseudes, 9.

Footnote 220:

Maximus Tyrius, I, x, 3. καθάπερ αἱ τιτθαὶ τοὺς παῖδας διὰ μυθολογίας
βαυκαλῶσι.

Footnote 221:

Dion Chrysostom, 4, 164.

Footnote 222:

Philostr., Her., I, p. 668.

Footnote 223:

Lucian, Philops., 28.

Footnote 224:

Strabo, I, 2, 6.

Footnote 225:

Plutarch, Dem., 27.

Footnote 226:

xx, 41.

Footnote 227:

Scholia on Peace, 758.

Footnote 228:

_Ibid._ on Wasps, 1035.

Footnote 229:

Thucy.., 2.

Footnote 230:

Philops., 2.

Footnote 231:

Ars Poetica, 340. Cf. A. W. Verrall, Collected Studies in Greek and
Latin Scholarship, Cambridge 1913, p. 306.

Footnote 232:

Vit. Apoll. Tyan., iv, 25.

Footnote 233:

De Thucy., Jud., 6.

Footnote 234:

Von Hahn, Griech. und Alb. Märchen.

Footnote 235:

Wachsmuth, Das alte Griechenland im neuen, Bonn, 1864, S. 57.

Footnote 236:

Geographica, I, 19.

Footnote 237:

Cf. Roscher, Lexicon, Leipzig 1884–. s. v. Gorgo.

Footnote 238:

Phaedo, 77A. Cf. Lucian, Philops., 23; Tox., 24; Zeus, 12.

Footnote 239:

De Stoic. repugn., 15.

Footnote 240:

Cf. Sappho, frag. 27 (Bergk).

Footnote 241:

Philostratus, Life of Apoll. Tyan., Bk. iv., c. 25.

Footnote 242:

_Ibid._, Bk. ii., c. 5.

Footnote 243:

Demosthenes, De Corona, 270.

Footnote 244:

Smythe, Melic Poets, p. 158. Cf. also Oliphant’s learned article “The
Story of the Strix: Ancient” in “Transactions of the Am. Philol.
Asso.”, Boston, 1913, vol. xliv.

Footnote 245:

Aesop, Babrius, 49.

Footnote 246:

Idylls, xv, 40.

Footnote 247:

Callimachus, Artem., 66ff.

Footnote 248:

Scholion on Theocritus, Idylls, xv, 49.

Footnote 249:

Hellenica, 4.

Footnote 250:

Peace, 474.

Footnote 251:

Frogs, 925.

Footnote 252:

Knights, 693.

Footnote 253:

Lucian, Philop., 37 (Fowler’s Translation).

Footnote 254:

Plato, Gorgias, 527; Hip. Maj., 286; Lucian, Phil., 9.

Footnote 255:

Plato, Lysis, 295D.

Footnote 256:

_Ibid._, Rep., 377B.

Footnote 257:

_Ibid._, Rep., 377D.

Footnote 258:

Sextus Empiricus, adv. Math., ix, 193.

Footnote 259:

Cf. Aristoph., Clouds, 904; Plato, Laws, 8860.

Footnote 260:

Pseudo-Plut., De Lib. Ed., § 5.

Footnote 261:

Aristotle, Pol., vii, 17.

Footnote 262:

Cf. Kingsley’s “Greek Heroes.”

Footnote 263:

Philostr., Imag., i, 15.

Footnote 264:

Navigium, 42.

Footnote 265:

Plato, Rep., 359D.

Footnote 266:

Hercules Furens, 98ff.

Footnote 267:

Plut., Theseus, 23.

Footnote 268:

Wasps, 1182.

Footnote 269:

Aristoph., Lys., 781–793.

Footnote 270:

ii, 134.

Footnote 271:

Croiset, Hist. de la lit. grecque, Paris, 1898, vol. 2, p. 475.

Footnote 272:

Plato, Phaedo, 600D.

Footnote 273:

Theon, Progymn., 3.

Footnote 274:

Aristophanes, Wasps, 1427. Cf. also Hermog., Progymn., I.

Footnote 275:

Scholion on Aristoph., Wasps, 1259.

Footnote 276:

Dion Chrysostom, 4, 163R (Dindorf). Cf. also Schol. on Birds, 807.

Footnote 277:

Croiset, vol. II, p. 19.

Footnote 278:

Athenaeus, 618E.

Footnote 279:

Socraticorum Epistolae. Cf. also Hesychius.

Footnote 280:

Plato, Laws, 790E.

Footnote 281:

Problems, xix, 38.

Footnote 282:

Quintilian, I, 10, 32.

Footnote 283:

Adv. Math., 6, 32.

Footnote 284:

Idylls, xxiv, 6.

Footnote 285:

Cf. Cholmeley, Theocritus, London, 1901, p. 343.

Footnote 286:

Simonides, Fragment 37 (Bergk).

Footnote 287:

Sophocles, Philoctetes, 827ff.

Footnote 288:

Euripides, Orestes, 174ff.

Footnote 289:

C. I. A., ii, 2729. Cf. Conze, 340, Taf. lxxxiv.

Footnote 290:

_Ibid._, ii, 3111.

Footnote 291:

_Ibid._, ii, 4196, 4197.

Footnote 292:

_Ibid._, ii, 5050.

Footnote 293:

_Ibid._, ii, 4109.

Footnote 294:

_Ibid._, ii, 3599.

Footnote 295:

_Ibid._, iv, 4284b.

Footnote 296:

_Ibid._, iii, 1458.

Footnote 297:

_Ibid._, ii, 4195; iii, 3384; Kabbadia, 1027.

Footnote 298:

_Ibid._, ii, 3097. Cf. also ii, 3111.

Footnote 299:

_Ibid._, iii, 1457.

Footnote 300:

_Ibid._, iv, 3553b.

Footnote 301:

Conze, 280, Taf. lxv.

Footnote 302:

_Ibid._, 276, 294, 306, 310, 380, 461, 471, 1143, etc.

Footnote 303:

Cf. Baumeister, Denkmäler, 1885–8, p. 238, Taf. 23.

Footnote 304:

Epigram xx. Cf. also Plut., Thes., 20: καὶ τροφὸν μετ’ αὐτῆς ὄνομα
Κορκύνην ἧς δείκνυσθαι τάφον.

Footnote 305:

Cf. p. 63.

Footnote 306:

Anthologia Pal., 456.

Footnote 307:

Cf. Menander, Samia, 90, Capps’ note. Cf. Terence, Andria 229.

Footnote 308:

Callimachus, Epigram 54.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

Corrections

Page or Changed from Changed to
Footnote

5 τίτθε, τιθένε τίτθη, τιθήνη

5 σκάφε σκάφη

5 πιστὲ πιστὴ

5 τίτθε χρηστή—Name of Nurse τίτθη χρηστή—Name of Nurse
Added—Her Master—Country— Added—Her Master—Country—
Simple Word τίτθε Simple Word τίτθη

7 ἒτι δὲ καὶ τροφοί ... αἱ τὸν ἔτι δὲ καὶ τροφοί ... αἱ τὸν
ἄλλον φασί, πόνον μετὰ τὸν ἄλλον φασί, πόνον μετὰ τὸν
ἀπογαλακτισμὸν ἀνα εχόμεναι ἀπογαλακτισμὸν ἀναδεχόμεναι

7 αὐ’ αὖ

9 δὲ δέ

9 ἐθελέις ὀλέσαι; σὺ δέ μ’ ἐθέλεις ὀλέσαι; σὺ δέ μ’
ἔτρεφες αὐτή ἔτρεφες αὐτὴ

9 ἒμικτο ἔμικτο

10 ἀργόθεν ἐρχονένην ἀγρόθεν ἐρχομένην

10 ἐξείπη, ὁ δ’ οἰσάμενος ἐξείπῃ, ὁ δ’ ὀϊσάμενος

10 τὴν τήν

10 ἀγγαλέῳ, ὑμῖν δ’ ἐπιfράσσετ’ ἀργαλέῳ, ὑμῖν δ’ ἐπιφράσσετ’

11 νεογὸν νεογνὸν

12 ἀνθαπτεται ἀνθάπτεται

13 τροφων τροφῶν

14 κατέχερ τίτθην παιδίων κατέχει τίτθην παιδίων
Διογείτου ἐκ Πελοποννήσου Διογείτου ἐκ Πελοποννήσου
τὴν δὲ δικαιστάτην τὴν δὲ δικαιοτάτην

14 καὶ μ’ ἁ Θεχαρίδα καί μ’ ἁ Θευχαρίδα

14 ἐπί τᾷ ὁδῷ κηπέγραψε ἐπὶ τᾷ ὁδῷ κἠπέγραψε

15 τὰς τάς

15 Ἑλλ’ηνίδας Ἑλληνίδας

15 ἄτε ἅτε

18 εχούσας ἐχούσας

18 εἴωτε δὲ τὰ παιδία τὰ πλεῖστα εἴωθε δὲ τὰ παιδία τὰ πλεῖστα
σπασμὸς ἐπιλαμβάνειν καὶ σπασμὸς ἐπιλαμβάνειν καὶ
μᾶλλον τὰ εὐτραφέστρα μᾶλλον τὰ εὐτραφέστερα

19 μικρόν μικρὸν

19 ἐκείνον ἐκεῖνον

20 παίς παὶς

20 εὔδεσκ’ εὕδεσκ’

23 οἶα οἷά

23 σκάφη σκάφῃ

24 ψυεσθεῖσα παιδὸς σπαργάνων ψευσθεῖσα παιδὸς σπαργάνων
φαιδρύντρια- γναφεὺς τροφεύς φαιδρύντρια· γναφεὺς τροφεύς
τε παὐτὸν ειχέτην τε ταὐτὸν εἰχέτην

25 Βάταλος βάταλος

26 και καὶ

27 της νόσου δέ σοι ζητοῦσα τῆς νόσου δέ σοι ζητοῦσα
φάρμαχ’ ηὗρον αὐχ ἁβουλόμην. φάρμαχ’ ηὗρον οὐχ ἁβουλόμην.
εἰ δ’ εὔ γ’ ἔπρξα εἰ δ’ εὔ γ’ ἔπραξα

30 πλῆσθπν, θαλερὲ δὲ πλῆσθεν, θαλερὲ δέ

32 φιλτάτη φιλτάτῃ

34 εἰπή μοι, ἔφη, ᾦ εἰπέ μοι, ἔφη, ὦ

35 οὗν ταῦτα μῦθος σοι δοκεῖ οὖν ταῦτα μῦθος σοι δοκεῖ
λέγεσθαι, ὥσπερ γραός· και λέγεσθαι, ὥσπερ γραός· καὶ

36 ἒχουσαν ἔχουσαν

36 ἔπι ἔτι

37 ἑ ἡ

37 ὴν τὴν

37 Θάνατον θάνατον

37 της τῆς

37 παιδαφιλωέτρα παιδοφιλωτέρα

37 αὐτης τὸ φάντασμα ἐπιφοιτᾶν αὐτῆς τὸ φάντασμα ἐπιφοιτᾶν
ἐπὶ τὰ παιδία, καὶ τοὺς τῶν ἐπὶ τὰ παιδία, καὶ τοὺς τῶν
ἀώρων θανάτους αὐτῆ ἀώρων θανάτους αὐτῇ

38 στριγγ’ στρίγγ’

38 τῳ τῷ

40 μυτέρας μητέρας

41 κατελιπεν κατέλιπεν

41 δακρυρῥόους δακρυρρόους

42 ρυθμίζειν ῥυθμίζειν

43 ἤ ἢ

43 ρυθμῷ ῥυθμῷ

44 ιοιχόμεθ’ διοιχόμεθ’

46 δικαιστάτην δικαιοτάτην

47 μικκός μικκὸς

47 ἔξει ἕξει

47 Ἀργῶν Ἀγρῶν

47 Ἀίσχρην Αἴσχρην

[47] ἑλακωνομάνουν ἐλακωνομάνουν

[200] θάλη θάλῃ

[223] Philips Philops.

[228] Waspa Wasps

[238] Philips Philops.

[285] Cholmey Cholmeley

[304] ἦς ἧς

1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.
2. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed.
3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.

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